


Leaping into the Dream

by MoonRaven1412



Series: Leaping into the Dream [3]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: All according to keikaku, Amnesia, Estranged Siblings, Flashbacks, Found Family, Gen, Hacking, He finally found his sister, Magic, Secrets, Self-Insert, Sequel, Shugo tries his best, Tsukiko is pissed, and confused, background plotting, it's conan what do you expect?, murders, rediscovery of memories, split personality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-25
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-04-27 20:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 38,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14433237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRaven1412/pseuds/MoonRaven1412
Summary: Tsukiko got reunited with her brother Shugo. The meeting spurred more questions than it answered and now apparently she needs to figure out her own memories... that she didn't really live through but her Detective Conan World -counterpart Kagemiya Hoshi apparently lived. And on the side the canon plot still goes on.SI-OC, Self-Insert, Sequel to Dream or Not.





	1. New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, it took me so long to post this one. I completely forgot that I hadn't posted this on AO3 and that I'd promised myself I would once I got the chapter of LtRU done and posted.
> 
> Well, I hope you like this chapter.

**Chapter 1**

Tsukiko sat on a seat of shinkansen on a way to Kyoto. Shugo sat on the seat opposite her. The scenery passed by with the ocean glittering in the sunlight. Again, she had the feeling of _rightness_. Right train, right seat and view out of the window. Shugo was the only new addition to it but frankly it didn’t matter. She was just happy she had him with her. It had taken some hedging and call to Yamato but the boy had agreed to take her to Kyoto to visit their grandmother, Kagemiya Tsubaki nee Midorikawa.

“How come she never… never visited?” Tsukiko asked.

“I assured her that I’d take care of it. Tsubaki-baachan doesn’t like travelling long distances, even with shinkansen. She was worried but…” Shugo shrugged. “I kept her updated. I told her when you were admitted and when you woke up and I also told her that you might not be coming back until you actually realized that you had a memory loss.”

“You’ve been stalking me.” She glared.

“Yes, I have.” Came the unrepentant reply.

“Are you going to give me your phone number at some point? I had to call Yamato in order to reach you.”

“Maybe at some point.” Shugo smirked. “Just sleep. You look like you are about to anyways.”

“Fine…” With the recent revelations, several thoughts had been going through her head thus making it hard to fall asleep. It was good that her friends in Teitan had taken the news of her past and memory loss well and they had not questioned her much. Ran had even sympathized with her as the karate champion had had psychogenic retrograde amnesia once. The events of movie 4: Captured in her Eyes. What Tsukiko had read about her own situation… while it might’ve been mostly mystical reason because of her and Hoshi, she was sure that her accident and comatose had played a factor in it too. Post-traumatic retrograde amnesia. Both hers and Ran’s situations made them forget previous memories but Ran repressed hers while Tsukiko was in an accident. And Tsukiko had her memories as Jade to fall back to and thus she was able to function like normal person. But…

“Shugo… If I had an amnesia and you knew about it… Was it because the hospital diagnosed it or because you knew what I was doing? Because…” Tsukiko stopped. Jodie hadn’t known about her amnesia until after seeing her file. And Tsukiko had been practically a Jane Doe until she woke up and gave her false name.

“I visited you in the hospital and met with the doctors. The false name to pay your bills was to fool the FBI. Our parents’ Interpol connections became handy and there was still money from mother’s last paycheck she never used before her death…”

“Interpol paid my hospital visit?”

“Yes. And they asked the doctor to conceal the information from the FBI until it was specifically asked. Especially after you told the nurse your name was Okiya Tsukiko and not Kagemiya Hoshi.”

“They confirmed my identity with DNA test and let you and Yamato keep an eye on me.” Tsukiko realized.

“Yes. They had never intervened in our lives before and they weren’t going to do it now.” Shugo nodded.

“Alright…” The girl was nowhere near done with her questions but they could wait for now. She was sleepy. And it was strange how travelling on this train felt like a déjà vu…

* * *

 

Hoshi was walking along the corridor of the shinkansen towards the car that held the seat mentioned in the ticket in her hand. She had gotten a place at the side of the ocean. It was her habit, when going to Tokyo on shinkansen, she’d watch Mt. Fuji and when going back to Kyoto, she’d watch the ocean.

This time she’d been visiting her brother Daiki. Well, nowadays he was called Shugo but it didn’t bother her. She wanted to be called Tsukiko after all. This far only her now-deceased uncle Tsukasa had called her that. And right since the first meeting too! It made Hoshi happy. Even if he was dead now, that half-a-year of contact with him was something she treasured greatly.

The doorway was blocked. Hoshi frowned at the two black clad backs. They had stopped. In front of them was a kid…

“Move! Get outta the way!” The stockier man swept his hand at the boy. Hoshi frowned. Yeah, the kid was blocking the way but there was no need to be rude.

“Could you two move as well?” Hoshi spoke up. “There is no need to walk side by side on such narrow corridor.”

The two men turned to her. During the movement she noticed the taller one having long blonde hair. What haircare product was he using?

“Snrk…” The kid snorted.

“Did I say that aloud?” Hoshi gasped to the baleful stares. “Gomen, gomen… I was just suddenly reminded of my uncle’s co-worked who I hear had long hair too. It was black though.” She waved embarrassedly and slipped past the duo. It was true though. During some of their conversations that Tsukasa had mentioned his coworker with long hair. His name was similar to Hoshi’s brother’s original one but for the life, she couldn’t remember it.

Hoshi sat on her seat by the window and smiled at the ocean she could see. She rummaged her bag for her sketch pad and cassette player. The train ride would take some time after all.

To Hoshi’s embarrassment though, the duo of black-clad men sat on the seats across the aisle from her. Oh well, she could cope.

* * *

The men left at some point and the kid from earlier tried to follow them. He was dragged back by his sister though. Hoshi followed it all from the corner of her eye whilst sketching the duo on a single page of her calendar.

Then the men came back and began talking. Hoshi kept drawing until her cassette run till the end. She was changing the side of it when she heard the way they addressed each other. Jin, Wokka… While the first one could’ve passed for first name, the latter one definitely couldn’t. So it was more reasonable to think of them as codenames or nick-names. But what could they stand for? And in Japanese or in English?

Hoshi’s mind flashed back to her grandfather Ki’ichi’s liquor cabinet. Grandfather had passed away seven years ago already but the cabinet was still there…

Her thoughts were interrupted again when she heard about a large sum of money.

“400 million just for returning that black case…” The stockier one, ‘Wokka’, spoke. “What the heck was in that thing?”

“Information about gold…” ‘Jin’ answered, lighting a smoke. Oh, why had she not taken a seat in a non-smoking car?

“G-Gold…”

“If it gets used well, then 400 million isn’t anything…”

“I see… That would explain the excitement, then…”

“Yes, they’re probably back at their seat, checking out the view, laughing to themselves. Their last view…”

“Their ‘last’…?”

“I mean that the organization has no more use for them… The case we returned is packed with explosives. If it’s bumped hard enough, it’ll set off a bomb.”

Hoshi blinked at the information but didn’t give any other outward signs other than her hand twitch when she broke the tip of her pencil. Nonchalantly, she dug a sharpener from her pencil case and began sharpening the pen, all the while pretending she was listening to the B-side of her cassette tape. These guys were obviously dangerous so it was better for her if she didn’t show that she’d heard anything.

“Yeah, but what if they drop it or something?” ‘Wokka’ asked.

“Don’t worry… It’s extremely important information received at great cost… They wouldn’t do anything careless as that. And besides, the bomb is set to go off at 3:10 anyways…” ‘Jin’ replied.

“It’s a time bomb?!”

“Nah… but that’s when they’re going to accidentally set it off themselves…” The long-haired man chuckled to himself. “Heheheh… And the trigger is last… Ten seconds afterwards, their body and then the train will be blown to smithereens!”

 _“Don’t move… Don’t move… And for Kami’s sake act normal…”_ Hoshi bit her lip and she forced her reaction down. She wouldn’t have needed to. The kid from before had leaped up, almost directly behind Hoshi and thus startled her. The tip of her pencil cracked.

“ **S-…** ” He began. “S-Six times eight equals sixty-four!” The boy said and laughed nervously. Hoshi looked at her pencil which she’d cracked inside the sharpener by accident. With a sigh she opened the ashtray on her seat’s armrest and dumped the contents of the sharpener into it. Then she took tiny scissors from her pencil case and began extracting the piece of graphite from the sharpener.

“Tch! Stupid brat… Scared me…” ‘Wokka’ muttered.

* * *

The train stopped at Nagoya. The dangerous duo disembarked there. Hoshi felt the tension melt from her shoulders. Meanwhile past her, the boy zipped past, chasing after the men. Was he suicidal? Oh well, there went his sister.

Hoshi packed her drawing utensils. She needed to act. Aside from that little kid, she seemed to be the only one to know about the existence of the bomb. And she had only few clues picked from the conversation.

 _“The bomb will go off at fifteen hundred and ten.”_ She thought. _“I have forty minutes to find it and to get rid of… Tsukasa-jisan, I wish you were here. Things like these are much more suitable for the police to take care of…”_

Picking her bag, Hoshi left the car just when the train moved on from the Nagoya station.

 _“Let’s see… What clues do I have…?”_ The girl thought back to the conversation she’d heard. _“They met someone somewhere. The stockier one lit a smoke right when they came back to their own seats and said something about finally doing so. Maybe their transaction partner didn’t like people smoking so they refrained from doing so in their presence in order for the transaction going smoothly…”_

She stopped by the map showing all the cars of the train. There were eight non-smoking cars. Less than half of the total amount of cars in the train. Oh, why didn’t she take a seat in one of them? Though maybe this time it was good. Otherwise she wouldn’t have heard of the bomb and would most likely die from it. Not a pleasant idea.

 _“What else did they mention about this person? Scenery? From the first floor one could see either the ocean or Mt. Fuji depending on which side one was sitting on but to see the whole scenery, one needed to be in the business cars in the second floor.”_ Hoshi looked up the map again. There was only one non-smoking car among the business cars: number seven.

She was about to take the stairs up to the second floor when the same kid than from before burst through the door and to the map.

“Oh. Are you trying to find the bomb too?” Hoshi spoke, spooking the boy when he whirled to look up at her.

“M-Me? B-Bomb? W-What are you talking about?” The boy laughed nervously.

“Don’t take me for a fool. I heard those two, too. I’m on a way to Kyoto and I very much don’t want to die before reaching home.” Hoshi glared. The boy straightened up and assessed her with narrowed eyes.

“Do you even know where to start?” He asked seriously. Very unlike a normal child. But that wasn’t the mystery to be solved now.

“Yes. Non-smoking car in the second floor, number seven.” She answered. The boy seemed to think about it, probably going through the same clues that Hoshi had used, and nodded then.

“Sounds reasonable.”

“What if you handle the investigation while I see for the general picture then? People are less likely to suspect a child. And I can keep an eye on their reactions better from distance.” Hoshi suggested then. She was curious to see how the kid would do.

“Alright. We don’t have time to lose.”

That was true. Hoshi wasn’t too comfortable with this all, but if needed, she’d just throw out all the black cases from that car and hope for the best.

* * *

Only four suitcases. That was good. Hoshi watched from the stairs as the boy interacted with the… suspects.

A salaryman going through stocks with his computer. That certainly could refer to the information about gold the men in black had mentioned. Gold stocks. And very protective of his suitcase.

Then there was the business woman. She spoke of the view… Of Mt. Fuji. That was strange. Her seat was on the same side of the train that Hoshi’s which mean that on her window she could only see an ocean. While she could probably see Mt. Fuji from the window at the other side of the car, the ‘scenery’ she and the kid both were referring to, looked out to the ocean.

The salaryman from before got mad at the kid again. And for some reason the boy asked if the business woman had been at the dining car… Had the transaction taken a place there… She said she hadn’t been there but… That was the only chance she could’ve seen Mt. Fuji. And the time when the two men were out of the car doing the transaction had indeed been during the time from Numazu to Shizuoka, when they were passing Mt. Fuji.

“Gotcha…” Hoshi smirked and watched in amusement when the boy went through the half-deaf old man and the yakuza-lookalike.  The latter of which was immediately excluded when his case fell to the floor and flew open, revealing what was actually inside. Well, Hoshi had excluded him as soon as she was the careless way the case had been put on the luggage racks. If it had truly contained valuable information, the case would’ve been held close, like the other three did. Oh well…

* * *

The yakuza-lookalike kicked the kid out where his sister was waiting for him. Hoshi in the other hand sat down on a free seat. She needed to keep an eye on the businesswoman. Somehow she’d activate the bomb, probably because of some false instructions she’d been given by the two men. She had a cellphone in her purse so that was probably what she was going to use.

 _“Fourteen minutes left…”_ Hoshi breathed in. And out. Her palms were sweating but she needed to stay calm.

* * *

With just one minute left, the woman left her seat with her case in tow. Hoshi waited for a moment before following her. It was cutting too close. They descended to the deck.

“Oba-san…” Hoshi addressed the woman who was putting in the number she was about to call. “If I were you, I wouldn’t call to the number that was given to you.”

“What are you talking about?” The woman frowned, glanced at her watch and then pressed the calling button. Hoshi looked down at the case on the floor. There was no use of talking with the woman. Time was running out. She needed to do something.

A hurried pair of steps ran towards them. Hoshi looked up at the corridor. It was the same kid once again. He was running and… was he going to kick the case out of the window? Normally Hoshi would’ve scoffed at the idea but something told her to duck. Maybe it was his expression. Or maybe it way his shoes were glowing and sparking.

“Get out of the way!” The boy yelled. Hoshi grabbed the businesswoman by the waist and pulled her out of the line of fire.

The case flew through the window.

**_BOOM!_ **

The shock wave rocked the train. Hoshi and the woman ended up on the floor.

“W-Who are you?” Was that woman asking it from the kid or from her?

“Edogawa Conan, a detective!” The boy said. Such a unique name. And detective, huh… Well, maybe such a smart kid liked to label himself as such. Hoshi sat up.

“I think someone’s gotta call the police…” The girl muttered. She’d probably need to give her statement too. Joy…

“Hey! What have you done now?” And the kid’s sister was right on his heels again.

* * *

The train was stopped and the police called. The woman was arrested but in the end she didn’t know much. Hoshi slipped past the officers and skipped the statement giving. Instead she pulled her phone and dialed a number she’d memorized. She’d gotten the number from his uncle during the first time she met him.

_“I’m putting a lock on any voicemails I might leave you.” Tsukasa explained._

_“But if you put a lock how can I know what you’re saying in them?” Hoshi frowned and let her uncle do the work._

_“You don’t need to know about them yet. Only when you figure out what is the name of my ‘Kage’ now, then you’ll get them. In the meanwhile, you just keep them stored. And when you figure it out and listen to the voicemails, I want you to call to his number. They’ll get the information from you.”_

_“Is what you do really that dangerous?”_

_“Yes, and that’s why I’m not giving the password to you yet. You need to figure it out on your own. And when you do, you will be older and hopefully have other information on the background so you understand how dangerous this all is.”_

_“I see… How can you put the lock on my voicemail though?”_

_“Oh, your brother is not the only one capable of programming.” He laughed. He had a nice laugh.  “One more thing though… This number I’m giving you. There is one other condition when you can call it too. If you are in danger and it’s related to men in black-clothing and the contents of your ojii-san’s liquor cabinet.”_

Hoshi sighed and pressed the call button. There was an answer. Even though her uncle was already dead, apparently the number still worked.

“This is Kagemiya Hoshi. My uncle gave me this number in the case of…” She paused, pondering her wording. “In the case I’m in danger in relation of men in black and the contents of ojii-san’s liquor cabinet.”

The wording was the key. Keywords… The person answering directed her call to another department.

 _“Tell us what happened.”_ Someone else said. A male this time.

“The initial danger has passed but…” Hoshi took a deep breath. She couldn’t break down now. “There was a bomb in a shinkansen going from Tokyo to Kyoto. Two men in black were in the same car than I and after apparently doing a transaction in the dining car they began talking about it. Aside from me, only a little boy heard it. They talked about the bomb that was set to explode at fifteen hundred and ten. When they left the train in Nagoya, I began to search for their transaction partner with the clues they mentioned in the conversation.”

_“Why didn’t you call earlier?”_

“There was only forty minutes left. There was no time.”

_“You said a code-word for liquors. What were they addressed as?”_

“The taller one had long blonde hair. He was called…Gin.” The image of the liquor cabinet at home flashed in Hoshi’s mind again. “The shorter and stockier one was wearing sunglasses all the time. He was called Vodka.”

_“Do you know what exactly was exchanged?”_

“The men got 400 million yen while allegedly giving the woman information about gold… Gold stocks maybe.”

 _“Kagemiya-san, thank you for this information.”_ The person at the other end of the line spoke. _“Your uncle would be proud of you.”_

“It’s… It’s alright.” Hoshi drew a sharp breath.

_“Do you mind if I ask for additional information?”_

“It’s alright…” The girl repeated pushing back her panic once more.

_“How was the bomb disposed of?”_

“The woman had gone to the deck to make a call. Apparently she thought she’d get the code to open the case. Instead she triggered the bomb…” Hoshi bit her lip. “There was this kid, Edogawa Conan who was investigating with me. I didn’t mean to include him but with him I got the necessary reactions from my suspects to know who the one that met with the two men was. Anyways, he… had these weird shoes… and he _kicked_ the case out of the window just before it exploded.”

Silence followed.

“I’m not making this up.” Hoshi said immediately.

_“I’m not saying so. But this probably warrants more careful look.”_

“I see.”

 _“Edogawa Conan, you said?”_ There some clicking of computer keys. _“What can you tell about him?”_

“Elementary schooler. Came aboard from Tokyo with his family. An older sister and a father or an uncle. I didn’t pay that much attention on them.”

 _“I see. Thank you very much.”_ The person clicked some last keys. _“There have been instructions to ask this in the case you call, Kagemiya-san, but… Have you managed to open the voicemails your uncle made three years ago?”_

“No. It was very cryptic clue. And after his death… I tried to forget…”

_“I see. I won’t bother you anymore then, Kagemiya-san. Have a good weekend.”_

“The same for you too…”

 _Click._ The call ended. Hoshi let herself burst in tears as everything that had happened just an hour ago caught up with her.

* * *

Tsukiko opened her eyes wearily. Shugo was leaning his elbow against the window pane and watching the countryside and towns whipping past.

“Are we there yet?” She asked.

“Soon. Just a couple of minutes.” He replied and looked up at her. “Did you sleep well?”

“Relatively well.” Tsukiko mused. Chasing after a bomb wasn’t something she’d call relaxing but… At least she’d learnt something new about ‘her’ past once again.

* * *

Kyoto was truly beautiful city. Tsukiko hadn’t gotten that good of a glimpse of it when they were on the way to Maizuru harbor but now she had time. She felt like a tourist but in a good way. Looking at the people and buildings with fresh eyes.

“Where is… Tsubaki-baasan’s house?”

“Nakagyo-ku, Shimokori-cho…” Shugo began. “And once there, let’s see if you can find your own way.”

“You are mean.”

“I know.” The boy grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll guide you.”

* * *

“We’re just by Kamogawa, aren’t we?” Tsukiko looked around. “This is… Matsubara-dori…”

“And following it to the other side of the river, we’ll find Miyagawa-cho where the teahouse murder of movie 7 happened.” Shugo pointed onwards. “Right now we are in Shimogyo-ku, near Minoya-cho. We need to go to north along this river so we’ll get to baachan’s house.”

“I see…”

They walked along the river Kamogawa and then turned inland. Through a narrow street in area called Ponto-cho. It was a hanamachi(flower town/geisha district) just like Miyagawa-cho. Tsukiko smiled happily. Had Hoshi really lived around here? While expensive in area, it was also traditional in architecture. It was all very cramped but also very cozy.

“Here.” Shugo gave a key to Tsukiko when they stopped in front of one of the buildings. It had wooden door and had two floors. A style of machiya, traditional housing still found in Kyoto. The windows were covered with drapes from the outside. Tsukiko had seen those at Tokyo too on certain areas.

“My key?” Some of the keychain attachments looked like what she’d pick. “Where did you get it?”

“From your bag when you were in the hospital. That’s when I blocked some stuff on your phone.”

“…Did you touch my voicemail?”

“No. Why I should’ve? You never use voicemail.” Shugo asked in bewilderment.

 _“I don’t but Hoshi did…”_ Tsukiko thought and inserted the key to the door. It turned easily. The siblings stepped into the hall.

“It seems someone is visiting baachan already…” Shugo remarked at the sight of men’s shoes put neatly aside. Tsukiko agreed with the assessment. Since their grandfather Kagemiya Ki’ichi was already dead, there was no other male in the house. Actually… Shugo was the only male Kagemiya left now as even Tsukasa was dead.

There was sound of scratching against the floorboards and a… chipmunk appeared? Something about it rang a bell. Tsukiko kneeled by it.

“…Kara-chan?” She muttered. The chipmunk climbed her palm she held out for it. It was very cute. But what was it doing there?

Then there was two pairs of slippered steps and two people appeared from the hall. Tsukiko recognized one from the series while the other one she could wager a guess to her identity. The chipmunk left her hands and went up the pant leg of the guest in the house. Ayanokoji Fumimaro rubbed the head of the chipmunk when it made it to his shoulder and then slipped into the breast pocket of his suit jacket.

“T-Tadaima?” Tsukiko smiled a bit nervously and stood up.

“Okaeri.” The woman smiled. It was Kagemiya Tsubaki. There wasn’t really anyone else she could be. The woman stepped forward and enveloped Tsukiko in a hug. It was brief but oh so warm. There was pricking behind Tsukiko’s eyes again. She knew this hug and this scent of tea and cookies. With a smile, the girl withdrew from the embrace.

“It’s good to see you again, Hoshi-han.” Fumimaro spoke then. Tsukiko blinked in surprise.

“You too, uh…” She fumbled for the right way to address the man. Apparently they knew each other but in the other hand she wasn’t sure how close they were. Most likely the connection was through Tsubaki or something.

“Fumimaro-han. That’s what you used to call me.” The police inspector guided her gently. Tsukiko flashed a grateful smile. That sounded correct to her ears.

“Fumimaro-han.” She nodded and glanced at Shugo then, question in her eyes.

“He was here with baachan when I came to tell about your awakening and the subsequent amnesia.” The boy answered to the unasked question. Tsukiko nodded in understanding, still a bit unnerved about the ‘surprise’.

“And I invited him here when Daiki-kun called and told you two would be visiting. Now, why don’t we take this conversation to the sitting room?” Tsubaki said then. Good, it was sort of awkward to stand in the genkan with two adults staring down.

“Sounds good.” Shugo agreed and gave Tsukiko a pair of slippers from the cabinet nearby. The two teens changed from shoes to slippers and followed the two adults to the sitting room that had tatami mats and a chabudai table in the middle of the room with four gingko leaf patterned zabuton pillows. Were they of Fusae brand then? The light brownish orange color was pretty though.

And the house in general… it seemed faintly familiar all in all. The coloring, the structure and floorplan, the photos on the shelves and other decorations…

“Hoshi-chan? Why don’t you sit with us?” Tsubaki’s voice interrupted Tsukiko’s train in thought. The girl looked up to notice that the other three had already sat down by the table.

“Sorry, it seems like I zoned out a bit.” She smiled and sat down next to Shugo and opposite Tsubaki. “I try to familiarize myself with everything again…”

“I see. How have you been coping during these past months then?” Tsubaki asked, pouring tea to cups. It was still steaming.

“I… I’m not sure.” Tsukiko sighed. “I keep making references and having this feeling of familiarity with different things but when I start to think about them more closely, the context escapes me. And before I even knew that I had amnesia, those flashes were… terrifying as I couldn’t understand them.”

“And why did you come here now?” Tsubaki set the cups in front of each of them. Shugo picked his own and took a sip while Tsukiko simply held hers in her hands.

“Shugo approached me last week. And told me about things. It gave me a better understanding of what was going on with me and… I wanted to come and see if this place would help me remember.”

“How much do you remember, Hoshi-han?” Fumimaro asked.

“Fragments. But as I said, things feel familiar even if I’m not sure how to interact with them. Just like with you, F-Fumimaro-han.” Tsukiko fumbled over the inspector’s name. “I recognized your face but wasn’t sure how familiar we… were or how to address you.”

The man nodded in understanding. Tsukiko sighed and felt like a knot of tension was loosening in her stomach. She glanced at Shugo who smiled at her encouragingly and then at Tsubaki who was sipping the tea. Tsukiko decided to take a sip too. She liked tea and was sure that Tsubaki’s tea was excellent. The woman was after all Hoshi’s – hers – grandmother.

The tea was tasty. Yasmine.

“How have you been in Tokyo? Made any friends?” Tsubaki asked then.

“Oh yes. I go to Teitan High School in Beika-cho. Class 1-B. From our class I have gotten to know Miyoshi Mai-san and Maki Namida-san. Then there’s class 2-B. I know a couple of girls from there too.”

“Names, Hoshi-chan. Don’t go holding back on me. It’s a bad habit of yours.” The woman reprimanded.

“Ah, yes…” It was so weird. The conversation just flowed and it didn’t feel awkward anymore. It was like there was no amnesia in the play. Were her and Hoshi so alike really? “There are Mouri Ran-san, Suzuki Sonoko-san and Sera Masumi-san.”

“It seems you met the two girls from before again then.” Fumimaro remarked.

“Again?” Tsukiko frowned. Shugo spoke up then.

“I mentioned the murder at the tea house across the river when we were coming here. What I didn’t mention that you accompanied Ayanokoji-san here to the crime scene and met with Ran-chan and Sonoko-san… Along with Kazu-chan, Hei-chan and chibi-tantei.”

“Chibi-tantei?” Tsukiko smiled wryly, storing the nick-name for later use. And that was interesting. Apparently Hoshi had been part of Crossroad in the Ancient Capital. Tsukiko couldn’t wait to remember it!

“Conan-kun.” Shugo corrected. “But it seems that they’ve forgotten about Kagemiya Hoshi… It’s not a surprise really. You met only once after all and your hairstyle changed in between that day and your new introduction to them as Okiya Tsukiko.”

“Okiya Tsukiko?” Fumimaro repeated. “Wasn’t that the name of the girl who jumped after Mouri Ran when she went overboard on Aegis Hotaka?”

“What?” Tsubaki gasped. “Hoshi-chan, you…”

“Ran-san’s lifejacket was damaged! She could’ve drowned!” Tsukiko defended. “Besides it was Kage, not me!”

That shut them up.

“Kage…? Hoshi-chan, when did you…?” Tsubaki seemed to be at loss of words but composed herself then, straightening in her seiza and smoothed out her kimono, folding her hands on her lap then. “Ki’ichi said that something traumatic needed to happen for the secondary personality to develop. A need to protect yourself and later others once the personality is realized… _What_ happened?”

“It was after the Tanabata mess at Tokyo Tower.” Tsukiko said in small voice but her expression dared anyone to disapprove her actions. “I was investigating with Conan-kun and then the terrorists appeared.”

“Hoshi-han…” Fumimaro began but seeing the mutinous expression on the girl’s face, amended his way of addressing the girl. It was a concession to her situation where she had worked from. No real past to fall back to and thus doing whatever she felt right. “Tsukiko-han, could you tell us from the beginning what has happened to you while in Tokyo? Not every detail but the main parts. While Shugo-han have told some to your grandmother he also had his own life to live.”

“Yes.” Tsukiko nodded, relieved that she could exclude the organization. Next to her, Shugo let out a sigh of relief, too. “I’ve heard that I left for Tokyo soon after okaa-san died. Once there…”

And she told them. The accident. The hospital stay. Picking up her name. Getting a place to stay and later finding a person to trust even with her amnesia. Stumbling upon murders and getting mixed into investigations. Making friends. Awakening her secondary personality (excluding Red Moon though. She was a mystery to be solved.). Getting flashback and then meeting with Shugo and finding out about her ‘real’ past.

“Tokyo sounds so dangerous place…” Tsubaki sighed at the end of Tsukiko’s explanation. “Are you sure you want to stay there?”

“Yes. I promise to call and visit but… Beika-cho is my current hometown. My friends are there. I don’t… Until I remember more, I don’t feel comfortable in leaving.” Tsukiko smiled apologetically.

“It’s alright. I understand. Kagemiya’s have a habit of leaving their home.” The woman nodded. “Tsubame to Hokkaido, Tsubasa to Europe and then to Saitama, Tsukasa to Tokyo… Why, Ki’ichi moved to Nagoya in his youth but then came back to marry me.”

The conversation drew to close.

“Now, why don’t you explore this house a bit? I’m sure you’ll find many of your old hiding places, Hoshi-chan.”

“I’ll do that.” Tsukiko nodded and was about to get up when another thought crossed her mind. “And Tsubaki-baasan… It’s Tsukiko. I’m currently Okiya Tsukiko and it’s a name I identify with. Please call me that.”

“Tsukiko-chan.” Tsubaki nodded. “Do you think one day you’ll be Kagemiya again?”

“One day, yes.” Tsukiko agreed. “But not quite yet.”


	2. M7: Crossroads in the Ancient Capital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Visit to Kyoto continues, Tsukiko learns more about her family and dreams of Hoshi's adventures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. This chapter took long to start and long to finish. Mainly because this is a movie chapter. I hope this has been worth of waiting though.
> 
> Some notes before starting. I've included some Kansai-ben words into the dialogue just like I've included standard Japanese before.  
> The word that appears most in this is:  
> Oukini = Arigatou  
> Likewise the usage of honorific -han is very strong. Thing with Hoshi's speech is though that she uses -san when it's about family. Otherwise she is firmly with -han.
> 
> Another thing I struggled with was deciding which honorifics to use when canon cast were talking about the Kagemiya. In the end I chose for polite Kagemiya-san when it was about Hoshi since they didn't know she was actually a year younger. (Heiji used Hoshi-han at first when he didn't know her family name) And when Sonoko talked about Tsubaki, Ki'ichi and Tsukasa, she used -sama. I figured that since she knew about them in more formal setting it would be more appropriate (she calls Jirokichi -ojisama but her parents are mama and papa and Ayako is aneki.)

**Chapter 2**

Tsukiko looked around in Hoshi’s room. Well, technically it was her room too but… It was still so new to her and Hoshi still felt so separate from her. The room wasn’t _hers_ yet. Tsukiko needed to familiarize herself with it before feeling at ease with it.

There was a knock against the door frame. Tsukiko didn’t turn around from where she was examining the contents of the bookshelf. Inuyasha, Ranma ½, Yotsuba&!, Azumanga Daioh, Nichiyou… Hoshi had some familiar manga volumes collected there. Some Naruto, Bleach, HunterxHunter and first two volumes of Boku no Hero Academia were also found from the lower shelves.

“Baachan said we can stay the night.” Shugo told her.

“Oh?” Tsukiko blinked and glanced over her shoulder. “Sounds good. Give her my thanks.”

“I’ll leave you to look around then.”

“Sure…”

Shugo left as swiftly and quietly as he’d come. Tsukiko narrowed her eyes briefly. Just what all had Yamato taught him. She shook her head and focused on other items on the shelf. A photo frame…

“Shugo!” She barked sharply.

“Yes?” The boy slid back into the room.

“Have you… Have you ever met Tsukasa-jisan?”

“Nope. Can’t say I have.” Shugo shrugged. “If I have before my arrival to this world, I don’t remember.”

“Okay…”

“Why do you ask?”

“You’ve spoken of Tsubasa-san… our mother… but the first flashback I had since that conversation related to our uncle. Since you only briefly mentioned Tsukasa-jisan, I wondered.” Tsukiko shrugged now in turn. The two pairs of greyish blue eyes observed each other for a moment.

“I guess… that you might’ve been closer to ojisan then…” Shugo sighed finally. “Do you want me to lift the block on the pictures and messages on your phone?”

“…Please.” The girl dug her phone out from her pocket and after unlocking it, tossed it to her brother who caught it expertly. A couple of moments later it was tossed back to her and put back into her pocket. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll go now. Baachan wants to talk to me about something.”

“About me.”

“Most likely yes.”

Shugo left then. This time for real. Tsukiko picked up the photo frame and popped the back open. The photo inside had a date and event written down.

_Hoshi-chan and Tsukasa-kun on 13th April 20XX. Hoshi-chan’s 13 th birthday._

Tsukiko assumed it was her grandmother who had written down the date and taken the picture of her and Tsukasa. In silence, she put the photo back and closed the frame. But instead of putting it back on the shelf, Tsukiko place it on the desk by the window.

“The cherry blossoms are blooming.” The girl mused, looking at the trees outside her window and the river beyond the buildings in the view. The sight was… familiar. This whole house and the route from the station to Ponto-chou had been all very familiar. “I hope I’ll dream of my past tonight.”

* * *

Tsubaki’s house was all in all very nice. It had two floors and surprisingly large. Kitchen with dining area, traditional sitting room that was acting as a living room too, two bedrooms and a toilet were in the first floor. One of the bedrooms were made into a piano room. Three bedrooms in upstairs, a bathroom and laundry room were in upstairs. Tsukiko’s room was one of those bed rooms; the master bedroom where Tsubaki still slept in was in the first floor. The other two bed rooms in upstairs weren’t in active use. One was a guest room and the other was storage space for things that couldn’t be stored in the attic. The house also had a balcony that was attached to the laundry room and a small yard out back with two cherry trees and one magnolia tree. It was very simple but beautiful place.

Tsukiko could easily imagine living here. But was this place designed according to what she’d imagined back in her home world as her ‘Japanese Home’ looking like or had she imagined her dream home according to the place Hoshi was already living in? Which one of them came first really?

Nevertheless… Her room was dusty. She needed to clean this place. Tsukiko went to laundry room and picked a vacuum cleaner and some dusters from there. And moreover, what better way to get to know her room but to clean it from top to bottom.

The bed was in the corner left and the desk beneath the window opposite the door. The bookshelves were on the wall with the door. The closet was on the right from the door. All furniture were made of light wood and with the white walls, all the color to the room came from decorations and textiles. Light green curtains, pale blue carpet and darker blue bedspread with some decorative pillows. The place was quite roomy but not too big. Tsukiko liked the place.

When she was taking the carpet outside to be dusted and thus clear the floor for mopping, she came face to face with Tsubaki. Apparently, she had already talked with Shugo.

“Could we talk, Tsukiko-chan? Just the two of us?” The older woman asked. Tsukiko blinked.

“Sure. Where shall we go?” She smiled.

“The piano room.”

* * *

They sat on the love seat by the window. April sun shone into the room. The floors were covered with tatami mats and the walls filled with bookshelves. Apparently, the room doubled as an archive too.

“How much has your brother told you about our family?” Tsubaki asked.

“Not much… Just about Kage and auras and briefly about our parents. He only mentioned Tsubame-basan living in Hokkaido and not having either trait… And Tsukasa-jisan having had Kage.”

“He hasn’t… He hasn’t been that interested in our family’s affairs. Probably because he has been living with Ishikawa-san and… The first time I saw him after he moved to Tokyo was six months ago when he came to take a look at the family tree and ask some questions…” Tsubaki sighed regretfully. “I wish I had fought you mother harder and had you both here. Even if I’m old… I still had Ki’ichi with me at first. And neighbors helping me.”

“Is it… Is it bad that I don’t remember things you’ve told me before?” Tsukiko asked.

“Yes and no. Kagemiya’s are a wide-spread family. While I have faith in you recovering your memories in due time, it is also good for you to experience things on your own pace, without the burdens our family creates.”

_“You are of those Kagemiyas’?”_

Who was that? Who asked that?

“Okay.” Tsukiko nodded. “But still… could you tell me more?”

“With pleasure.” Tsubasa lifted up a book from a side-table and opened it between them. It was a photo album. “The Kagemiya have lived in Kyoto since its founding. They made alliances with other families mainly through connections with samurai. And of course with some newer names when others died out. We had a family feud with the Koizumi who had strong European influences with their magic and abilities and eventually we drove them out of the capital with the help of our allies.”

“Who are our allies nowadays?” The girl nodded, leaning over the family tree pictured in the book. There were some familiar names too…

“There are the Ayanokoji, the Ikenami, the Okita and the Midorikawa.”

“You’re a Midorikawa.”

“Yes. And through you and your brother we are building a good rapport with the Kudou, the Kuroba, the Mouri and many others from Tokyo.”

“And the Hattori of Osaka… Heiji-san’s mother Shizuka is an Ikenami.”

“Very true. In today’s society the alliances are more numerous if less binding.”

“The distances are shorter and networking more efficient.” Tsukiko hummed. “What do our family do?”

“We still own land and numerous housings. Our family members work wherever their passions lie… You mother and uncle both went to law enforcement. Tsubasa-chan abroad while Tsukasa-kun stayed in Japan. Tsubame-chan married and became a housewife to Takenaka-san… I wish them luck. So many miscarriages she has gone through… She even stopped working at  university library due the stress.” Tsubaki sighed.

“Have you been overseeing the properties then?”

“We rent apartments in Tokyo. And organize events in gardens of Osaka and Nagoya. In Kyoto we had two tea houses with Fumimaro-kun’s mother but mostly the city holds onto what we owned. We only keep an eye on how they do things. Ki’ichi-san and I took care of things when our children were studying. Tsukasa-kun was getting ready to take over when the time for right but…”

“But he died…” Tsukiko frowned. “Is it… Is it up to me and Shugo now? And Saya-san?”

“Saya-chan is not direct enough relation.” Tsubaki pointed another branch on the tree. “I don’t know what Shugo-kun told you about her but she is actually Ki’ichi’s older sister’s granddaughter. One of two.”

Tsukiko looked at the two names listed.  So Saya was actually… And no wonder _she_ could feel auras too…

_“You are strange… Like your place in this world hasn’t been decided yet.”_

“Shugo implied she was Tsubame-ba’s daughter. Takenaka Saya.”

Tsubaki shook her head slowly.

“I do not know what Shugo has planned or why she is using the name she is. Nor do I know what Tsukasa-kun and Tsubasa-chan were investigating. I did not and do not want to know either even if I tried to help them any way I could.”

Tsukiko froze for a moment. That’s right… Tsubaki had lost both of her twins. And within a relatively short time too… Only three years apart or something.

“And I know you and Shugo-kun are also involved… And in danger. I did not visit you in Tokyo while you didn’t remember anything, Tsukiko-chan. I wished to but at the same I acknowledged that you needed time to heal. I have not met this Okiya Subaru person myself but the fact you trusted him even without your memories, told me enough.”

“Because?” Tsukiko frowned.

“Because you are a Kagemiya.” Tsubaki answered. The girl blinked.

“But I got Kage, not auras. And they weren’t even awake at that point.”

“One isn’t without other. And even then, the instincts to go along with them are there even if subconscious and dormant.”

“I see…” She leant against the woman. “Tell me more.”

_“My name is Kagemiya Hoshi, nice ta meet ya all. Please enjoy yer stay in Kyoto.”_

* * *

Tsukiko snuggled beneath her blanket and fell asleep surprisingly quickly. But then… This was her home too…

* * *

 _Marutake ebisu ni oshi oike.  
Ane-san rokkaku tako nishiki.  
_ _Shi aya bu taka matsu man gojyou.  
Setta chara chara uonotana.  
Rokujyou hijyou toorisugi,  
Hachijyou koereba Touji-michi.  
_ _Kujyou oujite todomesasu._

“Suruga-han? Suruga-han, it’s nine o’clock already. Why is your bar still open?” Hoshi knocked on the doorframe. Suruga Jirou was one of her grandmother’s associates and they usually talked on the phone after Jirou had closed his shop at six in the morning. To share gossip that he’d heard and such. But this morning there had been no such call. Not at seven. Not at eight even. So Tsubaki had sent Hoshi to Higashiyama-ku where Jirou’s bar, Snack Jirou, was located at.

“I’m coming in…” Hoshi took a step inside and glanced around. She didn’t need to search for long. Suruga Jirou was lying in the middle of the bar, some bar stools knocked down as a result of a struggle. There was blood but Hoshi couldn’t see where it was coming from. Jirou’s face was frozen in grimace…

“SURUGA-HAN!” She rushed forwards and kneeled beside the unmovable man. She was careful not to touch anything around her as she felt for pulse and fumbled her phone from her pocket.

_“110, what has happened?”_

“I’m at Snack Jirou in Higashiyama-ku… the owner, Suruga-han is not moving and I can’t feel a pulse from him…”

* * *

It was jarring for Hoshi. Despite the things she’d experienced already in her life, finding a body of someone she’d known was still shocking. While the girl hadn’t been anyway close with Suruga Jirou, she’d still talked with the bartender a couple of times.

The police questioned her extensively about finding the man and her connections with him, especially after it was found that the man was part of a robbery group names Genjibotaru. And that four other members of said group had been killed that same night.

Hoshi sighed as she changed from school uniform into casual clothes. Golden Week had finally begun. She could relax and do some home city sightseeing as she liked to do at this time of the year. Usually she went with her grandmother or her friends but maybe this year she’d have some other company.

“Hoshi-chan… Hoshi-chan?” Tsubaki called from downstairs.

“Just a moment, obaa-san!” She took her uniform to the laundry room and headed downstairs then. Tsubaki was waiting for her in the kitchen, going through some official looking papers. “What is it?”

“I’m meeting a friend from Miyagawa-cho tomorrow at Sakura Tea House.”

“Miyagawa-cho… mean Yamakura Tae-han.” Hoshi remembered as she began preparing tea for the two of them.

“Exactly. We visited her tea house on your thirteenth birthday.”

“With Tsukasa-jisan.”

“Yes. Anyways, I’m meeting with her to discuss about some things happening in Kyoto…”

“Genjibotaru group and Suruga-han’s involvement with them…”

“According to Yoshitsune Chronicles, there should be three other people left. We are going through our mutual associates and… how do you young people say it? Brainstorm their possible connections. The group has been active for twelve years. It is a long time and sudden strife like this either from outside or within the group is bound to be dangerous for bystanders as well.”

“And you are going to share your conclusions with Fumimaro-han?” Hoshi confirmed.

“Precisely. While I have full confidence with his skills and research capabilities of the police of Kyoto, there is some information that you can only get by talking to people. That is why Suruga-kun and I had our daily phone calls.”

“I see.”

* * *

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Hoshi asked as she glared up at the teenager in front of her. She hadn’t really planned on going to Higashiyama-ku again, but with Tsubaki’s meeting only late in the evening, she thought to go and talk to people. Take a leaf out of her grandmother’s book seeing as she knew the people around Snack Jirou. What she hadn’t expected to find was a high-schooler methodically going from one shop to another and repeating the same questions for the owners and cashiers there. About if they’d seen anything about Suruga Jirou’s murder. She also hadn’t expected to witness a purse-snatcher on a bicycle and seeing the boy stop him by hitting the man on the “Benkei’s Crying Spot” with a stick that hung the banner of the store he’d just exited. The robber went flying and when he tried to run away again, Hoshi stepped in to stop him. She had been taught the basics of the martial arts that the police officers used, taiho-jutsu, by her uncle and then expanded upon it by Fumimaro and some self-study.

So, she brought the man to the ground and pinned him relatively softly and safely, with no worse scrapes.

“Uh, Hattori Heiji… I was just asking for witnesses…” The dark-skinned boy laughed nervously, glancing between her and the pinned purse-snatcher who was struggling but Hoshi wasn’t letting up at all.

“The Detective of West? All the way from Osaka?” Hoshi asked skeptically. She remembered the teen now that she had the name to put with the face. He lost to Okita two years ago in Kendo-tournament and when the previous match was in Neyagawa, Hattori’s hometown, the boy hadn’t competed at all though he had definitely been there. So what was he doing this time?

“Well, yes.” Heiji shrugged and then picked up the purse that had been stolen and gave it to the unfortunate victim. “Here. It’s yours, right?”

“Thank you. That was very kind of you.” The woman looked quite familiar…

“Yamakura-han? Is that you?” Hoshi blinked. The purse-snatcher tried to get up then, but the girl shifted her weight to press him back down. “Ah, if someone alerted the cops, it’d be quite appreciated…”

“I can do that, Kagemiya-han.” The owner of the loaned banner said, having stepped out to inspect the commotion.

“Oukini, Katou-han!”

“Hoshi-chan? It’s been years since we last saw. You’ve grown so much.” Yamakura Tae smiled. “Do you know this nice young man? Your teamwork was quite exceptional.”

“Ah, no… First time meeting.” Hoshi shrugged.

“I manage a tea house in Miyagawa-cho.” Tae told Heiji then and gave her business card. “Take yours out as well.” She instructed the maiko with her.

“I am Chika Suzu. Nice to meet you.” The young woman greeted the boy.

“How should be thank you?”

“I didn’t do very much, so it’s alright.” Heiji replied. In the distance some sirens could be heard.

“Then, please come visit next time.” Tae offered.

“Take care going home.” The boy told them as police officers arrived on the scene to detain the purse-snatcher. Hoshi got on her feet gratefully. Detaining a full-grown man constantly struggling was quite tiresome.

“Thank you.” Tae bowed. As Heiji drove away on his motorcycle, Hoshi turned to address Tae and Suzu.

“Tsubaki-baasan told me yesterday that you are going to meet.”

“Ah, yes. We’ll have a lot to talk about and you are welcome to join us.” Tae smiled.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Until we see again.” Hoshi bowed and they parted ways.

“You should be more careful, Hoshi-han.” Ayanokoji Fumimaro stated as he stepped out from between two buildings. “You are still a civilian and has not had formal training when detaining criminals.”

“I trusted that getting hit in the Benkei Spot would keep him from struggling too much.” The girl replied as she fell in step with the man. “Besides… You’ve overseen my training, you know what I’m capable of.”

“I do. But at the same time, I’m a friend of your family and thus entitled to worry about your actions. You are only sixteen after all.”

“I know. And I’ll be careful.” Hoshi agreed. She put her hand into her hoodie pocket and fished out some peanuts. The rustle of the plastic package attracted Kara-chan to her. “Were you stalking Hattori-han, by the way?” She asked whilst feeding the chipmunk. Fumimaro sniffed at the choice of words but refrained from commenting them.

“His turf is in Osaka. I don’t care what he is allowed to do there, under his father’s supervision, but this is Kyoto.”

“And Kyoto is the territory of Alliance.” The girl placed Kara-chan on Fumimaro’s shoulder. The chipmunk slipped back into the man’s breast pocket. And when it peeked out again, Fumimaro rubbed its head.

“Precisely.”

Hoshi smiled. “Well, I think I’ll be heading home now. Can’t really investigate in peace with the commotion just stirred up…” She shrugged and tilted a head in the man’s direction. “You are welcome to join us at Sakura Tea House in the evening if you so wish. I’m sure obaa-san would like to see you again. Especially considering what she and Yamakura-han are going to talk about.”

“I’ll consider it.” Fumimaro nodded slowly. “Have a good evening. And stay safe.”

“You as well.”

* * *

Night fell to Ponto-cho. Hoshi sat next to Tsubaki while the woman and Yamakura Tae discussed about their mutual acquaintances. In the next room over, Chika Suzu and Ichi Kayo were entertaining customers. Hoshi could hear the shamisen and Kayo’s singing.

“Hoshi-chan, you are good with puzzles, aren’t you?” Tsubaki spoke up then, interrupting the girl’s musings about the case.

“Yes. Fairly good.” The girl nodded slowly. “How so?”

“Suruga-han gave me a copy of some sketch he received from a friend of his. He hoped that one of our family’s connections would come through with the solution. Since he is dead now, I doubt it’ll be of any importance, but maybe it would amuse you.”

Tsubaki gave a sheet of paper to Hoshi. It had a five-step stage pictured in it, with numerous images placed by them. Tengu, flower, octopus, acorn…

“Huh, interesting… Thank you, Tsubaki-baasan.” The girl inspected the picture for a moment before folding it to her pocket. “May I be excused now?”

“Very well, I think our meeting is pretty much concluded as well.” Tsubaki stated and Tae nodded in agreement. “It means that we can move on to lighter matters.”

Hoshi refrained from grimacing. She really wasn’t one for gossip.

“But you are excused, Hoshi-chan. Just don’t disturb the workers.”

“I won’t.”

“You can go to listen to Suzu-chan’s performance.” Tae suggested. “As long as you remain outside the room.”

“I think I’ll do that.” Hoshi got on her feet and left the room. The room with the performance going on was just by their room and thus the girl sat on the right side of the door, properly in seiza, and with the puzzle on her lap.

* * *

The performance was closing in when the front door downstairs opened and several people entered. There was a pause, with them probably either reserving the room or asking directions before they headed up the stairs. And there was a familiar face too.

“Hattori-han?” Hoshi blinked that the high-school detective and folded the puzzle. It had been quite amusing to solve.

“Ah, um… Hoshi-han… was it?”

“That’s my name, yes. And you are?” She looked at the three girls and little boy with him. Oh, two of them were familiar. The little boy and the long-haired girl. They were on the same train with Hoshi when the two men tried to blow it all up. Edogawa Conan and…

“My name is Mouri Ran, these are Suzuki Sonoko and Toyama Kazuha. And this is Edogawa Conan. Nice to meet you.” The girl introduced. And oh, all those names Hoshi knew from Shugo’s stories. Two of them plus the boy from Tokyo and one of them from Osaka.

“My name is Kagemiya Hoshi, nice ta meet ya all. Please enjoy yer stay in Kyoto.” Hoshi smiled, her accent slipping a bit thicker to her greeting.

“Thank you very much.” Kazuha smiled and then Ran opened the door to the room and slipped in.

“Why don’t you keep climbing!?” She seemed to be saying angrily to someone in the room.

“You guys, why are you…” A man replied from inside. Probably the father/uncle from the train. Considering that Ran and Conan didn’t share a surname, it was possible the man inside was one for each of them.

“Why don’t you join us?” Kazuha asked Hoshi. “No need for you to remain here.”

“Ah, I was just listening to the shamisen. Tsubaki-baasan should be done with her catch-up soon.” The girl tried to deflect.

“Don’t be shy.” Sonoko added. “Just tell her you are with friends.”

“Very well…” It was a short way home anyways. She could walk it alone too. Hoshi went to inform Tsubaki that she’d be in the other room, before joining the other teens. She took a seat next to Suzu at the corner of the table, with Conan on her other side.

“Hey, aren’t you from Miyagawa-cho?” Heiji asked Suzu.

“Yes. I’m Chika Suzu. Thank you for the help earlier.” The maiko replied.

“Do you know her?” Kazuha asked the boy.

“Yeah, just a little bit.” Heiji nodded. Meanwhile Ran was scolding the man who turned out to be her father. Apparently Mouri Kogoro had been very drunk just moments ago. Ah, the sobering effect of surprise and the disappointment in your children’s voice.

The conversation turned to Genjibotaru and the Yoshitsune Chronicles. Apparently, each of the killed members of the group had owned said book. (And so did the three men accompanying Mouri and the monk.)

“Even Suruga-han?” Hoshi asked with a frown.

“Yes, he bought it from my shop.” Saijou Taiga, the owner of used book store, replied.

“Did you know Suruga-han?” Heiji asked then. “You were in Higashiyama-ku today…”

“Yes. Not that well really. Suruga-han and Tsubaki-baasan used to have phonecalls daily and talk about gossip he heard during his bar’s opening hours. When he didn’t call that one morning, obaa-san sent me to check up on him.” Hoshi smiled bitterly. It was something one couldn’t unsee.

“So you mean you were there to…”

“I found Suruga-han’s body and called the police.” The girl shrugged. “It was something I wish I hadn’t seen.”

The talk continued about the books and Mizuo Shuntarou summarized them his favourite story in Yoshitsune Chronicles, the Ataka no Benkei. Afterwards though Sakura Shozo requested a place to sleep for an hour or so and he was directed to the rooms downstairs. It was quarter past eight.

“Wow, you can see the river!” Sonoko admired when she opened the ricepaper screen to balcony.

“That is Kamogawa.” Kayo told the girl.

“The cherry blossoms are beautiful.”

“Yes, they really are.” Kazuha agreed.

“Ran, come and see!”

“It’s good to see the cherry blossoms from the river bed of Kamogawa as a couple. However, the view from the river that flows beneath this building, Misogigawa, is exceptional.” Kayo explained to the girls now gathered by the window.

“It is beautiful yes.” Hoshi agreed, getting on her feet.

“You’ve been here often then, Kagemiya-san?” Ran asked.

“Yes, I live just a kilometer to north or so. Tsubaki-baasan’s house is also in Ponto-cho.” Hoshi explained. Behind them, Kogoro was chatting up Suzu while still completely drunk. To which Ran intervened once more. Hoshi listened idly as Heiji and Conan spotted Fumimaro outside and snickered inwardly. The man’s crush on Suzu was so cute. Then Mizui Shuntaro recommended the teens to admire the river from the balcony below.

“Let’s go.” Sonoko agreed.

“Yes. Sounds great.” Ran nodded.

“I’m going to stay here.” Conan interjected.

“Me too.” Heiji added.

“Why?” Kazuha asked the dark-skinned teen. “Are you anxious about that dancing girl?”

“Ahou…” The boy sighed. “Don’t ask anything pointless.”

* * *

The girl’s located on the other balcony, from which the view at the river and blossoming cherry trees was magnificent. They were served snacks and tea.

“Nee, nee, Kagemiya-san…” Sonoko spoke up. “I just realized. Since you are from Kyoto, you are one of those Kagemiya’s, right?”

“If you mean the Alliance, then yes.” Hoshi smiled wryly. “We aren’t as influential as some other families but we compensate for it with our connections.”

“I see.” The girl grinned back. “Then, can you tell me the answer to the mystery of the missing heir?”

“The missing heir?” Kazuha frowned. Ran seemed confused too but Hoshi chuckled.

“It is not really a mystery anymore… But I can tell you. Once you’ve explained your friends the context so I know where to begin.”

“Okay, so the Kagemiya’s have these great connections all around Kyoto and extending to rest of the Japan too. They own property and oversee other properties that are being maintained by the city. They have alliances with some other families too and acquaintances with numerous people. Thus, they get invited to parties and such also in the upper crust. My family had some dealings with Kagemiya Ki’ichi-sama when he was still alive.” Sonoko shot an enquiring look at Hoshi.

“He was my grandfather.”

“Ah, you are main family then.”

“Yes.”

“Alright. So naturally, like all families, they also named an heir to handle their numerous business contacts. That was their only son, though youngest child, Kagemiya Tsukasa-sama.”

“Tsubame-basan married Takenaka-han and moved away.” Hoshi added. She didn’t mention that Tsubame was ineligible due lack of Kagemiya trait. “My mother, Tsubasa, refused to become the heiress and married outside country.”

“Right. So, Tsukasa-sama was introduced to the public as the heir. Not very wide public, he only made two or three appearances… until he disappeared after finishing high school over ten years ago. And no one heard a peep of him until three years ago when…”

“When Tsubaki-obaasan let the public know he’d passed away.” Hoshi stated sadly.

“Exactly. So I’m curious now to know, what happened to the missing heir.”

“Simple. He took another name and joined the police forces.”

“Eh, really?” Kazuha gaped.

“Yes. Tsukasa-jisan always wanted to help people. He wanted to be a police officer but he also wanted to manage the Kagemiya properties. However, he didn’t want the two to intersect and disrupt each other. So, he took another name while in Police Academy in Tokyo and in the force.” The girl explained. “The Kagemiya have multiple identities prepared due and thanks to our connections. They are all equally valid. Even I have two other names that I can use if needed. But I’m not telling them to you.” She winked.

“Killjoy.” Sonoko snorted. “Does that mean that if we meet again someday, you might be using some other name?”

“Possibly yes.” Hoshi grinned and pointed at one of the trees on the opposite shore. “See that, the tree over there?”

“That one?” Sonoko pointed approximately to the correct direction.

“Yes, that tree has one of the best branches for sitting and eating snacks. My friends and I go there usually around Hanami.”

“I see.”

Ran glanced upwards suddenly.

“What’s the matter, Ran-chan?” Kazuha asked the girl.

“Nothing.” The other girl shook her head. The Osakan looked up towards the room where the rest of the party were still residing, to see Heiji giving a victory sign.

“That guy, Heiji…” Kazuha huffed. “He really makes me angry.”

“But… Kazuha-chan, I envy you.”

“Eh?”

“Because, you can meet him whenever you want to.” Ran looked sad that Hoshi really wanted to reach out and hug the girl.

“Ran-chan…”

“That’s true.” Sonoko sighed. “I can’t easily meet with Makoto-san either. A maiden’s worries are endless.”

There was a hurray from upstairs.

“Compared to us, those old guys are energetic.”

“Alcohol has a lot of calories in it.” Hoshi mused. “But really, boyfriends get you three so upset?”

“Meh, Makoto-san and I got together last summer.” Sonoko shrugged. “We call a lot since he has to travel a lot to karate competitions.”

“Makoto, Makoto… You mean Kyogoku Makoto-han then?”

“That’s right. And Ran here is pining after her love of a lifetime, Kudou Shinichi. They’ve known each other since kindergarten.”

“I see. And Toyama-han and Hattori-han are as good as an item then?”

“We are not!” Kazuha protested. “Heiji is just a-!”

“Mou, Sonoko. Lay off already.” Ran muttered.

“And what about you, Kagemiya-san? How’s your love life?”

“Umm… I’ve never really thought about it.” Hoshi shrugged. “I know a couple of nice boys but they… I don’t think I’m ready to date anyone yet.”

* * *

Time passed nicely whilst amicably chatting. The full moon above river and blossoms was beautiful. It was nine o’clock.

And someone screamed.

“What? Who screamed?” Sonoko asked.

“That sounded like the owner.” Hoshi frowned as they got up. People were running down the stairs, their thundering footsteps heard clearly. The girl let the other three walk before her as she flipped open her phone and called Fumimaro. Whilst waiting for the man to pick up, she listened for the conversation by the storage room. Sakura was dead.

Hoshi explained the situation to Fumimaro via phone while Ran was calling the police. She also added the mention to two and half amateur detectives on the scene. And received an instruction to shoo them out of the scene and thus prevent them from contaminating it.

“Please step away.” Hoshi told Conan, Heiji and Kogoro while standing firmly outside the room. “The police are on their way and we don’t need amateurs messing with the scene of crime.”

“You again…” Heiji glared.

“Amateur?” Kogoro spluttered.

“Toyama-han, Suzuki-han, could you guide the men and ladies back to the party room? Make sure none of them take any detours. As of now, everyone within this building are suspects until otherwise proved.”

“Alright.” Kazuha nodded. “This way please.”

“Same applies on you three.” Hoshi turned back to address the detectives. “You are not authorized to be investigating this and the police are already in their way.”

“We are experienced…” Heiji began.

“You’ve never before been in this room, correct? That means that just by coming here in your socks, you are contaminating the scene.” The girl replied flatly. “I acknowledge that you’ve been helping on cases before. But this is Kyoto and we do now tolerate any interference. Especially before the police has assessed the scene first.”

“Understood.” Kogoro nodded and grabbed Conan from the scruff on his jacket. “Don’t touch the corpse! How many times do I have to tell you until you understand?” And the half-pint of a detective was tossed out of the room. Well, that was one way of doing it. Hoshi dodged the boy and then neatly stepped to him.

“Oukini.” She smiled when she picked the handkerchief containing Sakura’s keys from the boy. “I’ll make sure that the officers get these. Go with Hattori-han to join others alright?” She smiled a tad condescendingly at the boy.

“Hai…” The kid grumbled and left with the Osakan teen. Hoshi remained at the scene of crime, guarding it while waiting for Fumimaro and his team.

“Kyoto Prefectural police… You are remarkably fast in arriving.” She could hear Heiji commenting.

“Did you bring your chipmunk today?” Conan asked next.

“I don’t always take it with me.” Fumimaro replied and continued down the stairs. “Hoshi-han.” He nodded to the girl.

“Fumimaro-han.” She nodded back. “Thank you for your timely arrival.”

“Thank you for your immediate report.” The man replied. Hoshi smiled and handed Sakura’s keys to the man.

“The half-detective tried to take them, probably in order to investigate later with Hattori-han.”

“I see. Thank you for intervening then. Please go join the others.”

“May I inform obaa-san about this turn of events?”

“She’s still here?”

“Yes. With Yamakura-han. They didn’t come downstairs with everyone else though.”

“Then go tell her but I request you to remain with them until we let you go home.”

“Alright.”

* * *

Tsubaki and Tae were both understandably shocked about the turn of events. Hoshi remained quiet while waiting for the officers investigate and…

“Hoshi-han, I have a request to you.” Fumimaro appeared on the doorway. “Take these keys and one of the officers with you and check Sakura-han’s shop. You know what to look for.”

Hoshi blinked and nodded. Given the recent cases, there was one thing that was of interest if it was found in Sakura’s possession. Yoshitsune Chronicles.

“Be careful, Hoshi-chan.” Tsubaki whispered.

“I will. Be back soon.” Hoshi smiled and followed Fumimaro out of the door. She got a pair of gloves from one of the forensics and joined then with officer Tainaka Miroharu at the front door. She was acutely aware of Heiji and Conan’s gazes on her back and she left, twirling the keys in one finger.

The Sakura Antique Art Shop was at Teramachi-dori. Hoshi let herself and Tainaka in the building.

“We’re looking at the bookshelves, right?” Tainaka confirmed. “To see if Sakura-han is connected to Genjibotaru.”

“Yes, especially for Yoshitsune Chronicles.” Hoshi nodded.

They found Sakura’s office and began perusing the book selection. The walls were lined with bookshelves and filled full but eventually they found what they were looking for.

“Ise no Saburou?” Hoshi found from inside the cover. And between the pages was the same puzzle that Hoshi had received from Suruga through Tsubaki. How strange… “Let’s go back.”

“Found it then?” Tainaka asked.

“Hai.”

“Bag and tag it then.” The officer gestured her to lay the book on the table where he took photos of both it and the paper inside. Then they were put into separate evidence bags and sealed with red tape. All in all, a quick procedure before heading back to Ponto-cho.

* * *

Fumimaro was waiting for them when they arrived and presented the findings. A quirk of an eyebrow prompted Hoshi to speak up.

“The paper was found inside the book. At the inside cover was ‘Ise no Saburo’ written.”

“I see… That means only Yoshitsune and Benkei are left.”

“Fumi-… Ayanokoji-keibu, I have a copy of a paper like that too.” Hoshi fidgeted a bit. There were stares at her back again. She took the paper out of her pocket. “I got this from Tsubaki-baasan who got it from Suruga-han.”

“I see. You can keep it then if it is just a copy.” Fumimaro stated. “Thank you for your help tonight, Hoshi-han.”

“I was glad to help.”

“Go collect your grandmother and go home. We will be in contact if something comes up.”

“Alright. Oyasumi nasai.

“Oyasumi nasai.”

* * *

Hoshi was cleaning. She was feeling stressed over the entire situation; thus, she focused her energy on dusty spots in the house. She was just wiping the glass of a framed Police Academy Diploma for one Midorikawa Hiromitsu when the house phone rang. Tsubaki went to answer it. A moment later she came back.

“It was Enkai-dono. We’ve been invited to Sannou-ji to listen Mouri Kogorou-san’s deductions. Do you want to go?”

“Sannou-ji? Sure. Are you coming too, Tsubaki-baasan?” Hoshi folded the cloth she’d been using. Tsubaki shook her head slowly.

“I’ll pass. I have a meeting with another associate of mine later today. You go and have fun.”

“I will.” The girl grinned and skipped away.

* * *

It was half-embarrassing and half-irritating to listen to Mouri’s deduction. According to the man, Chika Suzu had killed Sakura Shozo due some very assumed and far-fetched motive. Thankfully Yamakura and others came to Suzu’s defense.

And then the man tried to use Fumimaro’s chipmunk to ‘reenact’ the disposal of the murder weapon. Then the kids gathered (when did they multiply?) got mad at the man while Kara-chan refused to cooperate.

“That wouldn’t work anyways.” Hoshi announced.

“Huh, why not?” Kogorou glared.

“Because…” She put a hand into her hoodie pocket where she crinkled the bag of nuts a bit. Kara-chan immediately skipped to her though slower than usual due the weight of the 'murder weapon' tied to his back. “I carried this bag with me the whole evening yesterday, occasionally snacking some. If Kara-chan had been within the house at the time of murder, he would’ve come to me and thus the murder weapon would’ve been found instead of Hattori-han being injured last night with it. Not to mention that the knife was way too heavy for Kara-chan to move around with freely.” The girl fed peanuts to the chipmunk and untied him from the demonstration weapon.

“Can I hold him?” One of the kids asked. It was the girl with dark hair and a headband. Hoshi glanced at Fumimaro who gave discreet nod.

“Sure. But do be careful.”

“Let’s give it something to eat.”

“I’ve got acorns!”

An acorn fell into a stream…

“It’s like Donguri Koro Koro.” The little girl chuckled. And Conan rushed inside, with Heiji following him. How curious… Hoshi got on her feet and followed on much sedate pace. The two were by table with a map of Kyoto spread in front of them. As well as the same puzzle that Hoshi had solved last night.

“First are the roads that run East to West.” Conan was speaking. How adult-like speech pattern he had. Hoshi hadn’t really paid attention to it during the Shinkasen bombings. “The fifth row stands for Gojyou-dori. The fourth one is Shijyou-dori. And in between the third and second row, which means between Nijyou-dori and Sanjyou-dori, is Oike-dori.”

Huh, the kid actually got it. Wonder where he’d heard the temari song…

“And to prove that…”

“Donguri Koro Koro?” Heiji muttered.

”Next are the roads that run North to South. The violet, which is present in the song Haru no Ogawa, is part of Owaga-dori. The Tengu is represented in Karasuma-dori. And for Fuji-san, the character ‘fu’ is ‘tomi’. So it is Tominokuji-dori.”

“What is the chicken for?”

“Nishi no touin-dori.” Hoshi spoke up and stepped into the view from the obscuration of the rice paper door. “In the other hand, the loach is Yanagi no banba-dori.” Without invitation, she sat opposite the boys. “Do you need help?”

“Ah, we’ll manage, Kagemiya-no-neechan.” Conan chuckled.

“Have you solved this entire paper then?” Heiji asked.

“Yes. Last night, just moments before we met at Sakura Tea House.” Hoshi smiled. “Well, don’t mind me. I’m curious to hear how you’ll solve this.”

“Right… For the cicada, there’s an abura semi, which relates to Abura no kouji-dori.” Conan continued then, the boys blissfully forgetting her presence. “The Tengu represents Karasuma Avenue.”

“And if the goldfish, has something to do with goldfish food ‘fu’, it represents Fuyachou-dori.” Heiji added.

“Then if you connect the similarly colored violet and Fuji-san, the chicken and the loach, the cicada and goldfish, and both tengu’s together with a line…”

“Ou (King). Why is it a king?” Heiji questioned the kanji that appeared on the map. But Conan noticed the last clue on the puzzle.

“It’s a dot! Isn’t it like this?” The boy made the final addition. “Tama can also be read as gyoku, or jewels.”

“This place is…”

“Bukkou-shi…”

And they were off. Hoshi shook her head at the boys’ anticts.

“So lively…” She hummed as she folded up the map and hid it in her hoodie pocket. No good for the suspects to find it. Better give it to Fumimaro as soon as possible.

* * *

Hoshi really hadn’t meant to join into the mess. She’d given the paper to Fumimaro and for all intents had planned to let the police handle it all. But then she’d run into Ran who’d been looking for Conan and Heiji who were not answering to phone. And Kazuha was missing too. The only clue was Bukkou-ji and the stone indicating the move of Gyokuryuu-ji.

“I heard the temple is at Kuramayama.” Ran told her.

“That’s correct. It was evacuated years ago though.” Hoshi nodded and paused. “Do you need back-up?”

“Please.”

And they departed, with Hoshi shooting a message of her destination to Tsubaki and Fumimaro both.

The temple was deep into forest and the only real way of going there was a single road up. Hoshi and Ran were running in when they heard male voices talking to each other and apparently searching for someone. They all wore kendou outfits and Noh-masks though lacked other protections. They did have live steel katanas.

Ran was pulled into the safety of trees by someone. Hoshi glanced aside but she was already spotted by then. So she turned on her heels and ran downhill. What she had seen, the boy holding Ran wasn’t hostile, simply keeping her safe. So now Hoshi had to play bait and thus let Ran progress to the temple on her own. And as soon as she had more space to work, she could subdue the masked men. Three against one weren’t the best odds, especially when she lacked a weapon, but she could work with it.

* * *

Taihou-jutsu was useful indeed when subduing criminals. Hoshi had run all the way to the foot of the mountain before engaging them. And apparently Fumimaro had arrived with his men just in time to cuff the weirdo’s when they were recovering. Shiratori-keibu, Kogoro and two others – an old man and the brunette little girl – were there too but they entered the mountain. Probably to look for Ran. Hoshi followed them. She wanted to see this until the end after all.

Ran was found asleep by a tree. She spoke of Shinichi. Kogoro dismissed it as her dreaming but Hoshi had an inkling that the other girl meant by it her mysterious rescuer. Though why the missing Heisei Holmes would be in Kyoto was anyone’s guess.

“Ah, Kagemiya-san, thank god you are alright.” Ran smiled.

“It’s okay, Mouri-han. Ayanokoji-keibu arrived in time to arrest them.” Hoshi shrugged.

And then there was smoke rising from the temple and flames flaring at the darkened sky.

“Kazuha-chan!” Ran gasped.

They hurried up.

* * *

More masked weirdos greeted them when arriving. Ran engaged them with karate, Kogorou with judou, Kazuha was apparently dispatching them with aikido and Heiji had fought the leader with his kendou skills. Fumimaro’s men arrested them all.

“Conan-kun was here too?” Hoshi blinked at the boy standing next to Kazuha. So Heiji had really taken the boy with him to rescue the girl. How foolish…

Listening to the Osakan couple to talk though… and Conan’s meaningful cough, the location of the missing statue was solved too. And maybe at some point Hoshi would ask about the entire drama and motives going on with the Genjibotaru group and Benkei who apparently was Saijou Taiga but for now… She just wanted to go home and sleep. Preferably for an entire week.

“Ne, Kagemiya-no-neechan?” Conan approached her. “Do you want to see the statue’s hiding place as well?”

“Sure.”

“We’re retrieving it tomorrow morning.” The little imp smiled.

Okay, she’d get a couple of hours of sleep before that then. Maybe.

* * *

No sleep. Just police questioning. Then a ride back to the Gyokuryuu-ji on Heiji’s motorbike. Hoshi grumbled to herself that it was illegal to ride on it with three people and they better take taxi to Sannou-ji because she wasn’t going to hold the statue in her lap while having Conan piggy-back riding her. The boys humored her and thus on early dawn they went to the bell tower of the temple, which was shaped like the kanji tama and even had the bell tower as the dot. Moreover…

“If you put and ‘ukanmuri’ on the top of ‘tama’, it becomes ‘takara’ (treasure).” Conan explained. “The ukanmuri represented a roof.”

“I see.” Heiji agreed and procured a little crystal ball from his pocket that he pressed to the forehead of the statue. Hoshi blinked and let her eyes trail to the Osakan’s shoulder and the rip on his jacket. It hadn’t been there at tea house but at Sannou-ji yes.

“Now it’s back to normal.” Heiji stated.

“Yeah.” Conan agreed.

“Did you get targeted for that?” Hoshi asked the teen.

“Yeah, twice.” The boy shrugged. Hoshi shook her head at the nonchalance of the answer. Boys…

“Okay then. I’ll ask Tainaka-keiji to give us a ride to Sannou-ji.” The girl stated and flipped her phone open. There was absolutely no way she’d endanger herself with the balancing act of three people and a heavy statue on a motorbike despite the lack of traffic so early in the morning.

“Oukini, Kagemiya-han.” Heiji grinned. Bastard, wanted her along only for her connections to Kyoto Department. Hoshi just grinned back though and pressed call.

* * *

The statue was returned and it was time for the Tokyoite’s to return home too. The children were saying goodbyes to Kara-chan. And apparently Kazuha was Heiji’s first love instead of Suzu.

“Ah, you say yome-san instead of ane-san. That’s so cute.” Hoshi smiled after Kazuha finished the temari song that had been great help in solving the mysteries of the weekend.

“Thank you, Hoshi-chan.” Kazuha smiled back but blinked. “I mean, Kagemiya-han.”

“Hoshi-chan is fine. Please, call me Hoshi-chan, Toyama-han.” If Hoshi blushed, it was her own business. She liked Kazuha. She wanted to be her friend, especially since she had greater chance at meeting with her than with Ran and Sonoko…

“You can call me Kazuha then.” The Osakan girl replied.

“Kazuha-han.” Hoshi nodded. Because she recognized these people. They were Shugo’s friends. Which meant they were older than her. Maybe only a year but still… And manners were quite deeply instilled in her by Tsubaki even though in some settings she acted quite freely.

“You are strange… Like your place in this world hasn’t been decided yet.” Someone spoke up from behind Hoshi but when she turned around to address the person…

* * *

Tsukiko woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. Just why had she put it on… She yawned as she sat up. The memory-dream had been quite nice. Though exhausting. Tsukiko still felt tired, like she’d been running up and down Kuramayama physically instead of merely in her dreams.

The clock continued ringing and the girl got up from her bed to shut it down. It had been placed on her bookshelf, right next to the picture of her and Tsukasa, so she’d be forced to get up in order to shut it. Effective way of getting people out of bed. Glad to see that some things didn’t change between worlds.

Her eyes trailed on the picture again. Maybe there was something she could do to feel closer to her past…

At downstairs, Tsukiko sat down for breakfast.

“Tsubaki-baasan, could you please cut my hair?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the chapter fullfilled the expectations. I had a bit aof trouble to balance what Hoshi could do and know and where she could be involved in.
> 
> Did you guess who her second cousins are? It's in the end quite obvious.
> 
> What about uncle? I've been hinting for it a long time throughout DoN, LtRU and the two chapters of this fic.
> 
> Everyone is connected in DC world. That's my excuse for this all. (just wait for Chasing Shadows. There is one more familial connection.)


	3. M18: Dimensional Sniper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to know more about family, chasing a sniper, baiting investigators... Tsukiko's Golden Week is full of action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I placed the movie 18 on Golden week despite the DB referencing to summer homework... but you can imagine that it's GW project instead.
> 
> I got a lot of inspiration to Kagemiya family from Summer Wars -movie and the Jinnouchi family. When the virus hacked the viral network, the head of the family and badass grandmother just picked and phonebook and housephone and started calling their relatives and acquaintances to keep the Japan working and functioning.

**Chapter 3**

Tsukiko sat on the floor of the piano room cross-legged, with a several documents strewn around her and across her lap.

“Just like your mother.” Came an amused huff from the door. Tsubaki was standing there. “I barely have lifted scissors from your head when you are already doing research.”

“I’m sorry, Tsubaki-baasan, but I need to know these things. Thank you very much for cutting my hair though. My head… it feels lighter. And somewhat clearer too.” Tsukiko smiled but pointed at one of the family trees on her lap. “Could you please explain your side of the tree for me please? You told me a lot about the Kagemiya but I’d like to know about Midorikawa too. Especially considering that Shugo is using that name. And… Tsukasa-jisan too…”

“Certainly.” Tsubaki stepped into the room. “But do sit on the chair. That’s what they are for.”

“Of course.” Taking a seat once more next to her grandmother, Tsukiko spread the tree in front of the old woman. She pointed at the row of names there.

“Ah…”

“I understood that Tsu-names were a tradition among family yet your siblings…”

“I suppose that’s how Shugo-kun explained things to you. He wasn’t entirely incorrect. Tsu-names are a tradition… I’m my branch of family. As you can see, my father was name Tsuyoshi. As the eldest child of his, I followed the pattern. But my mother was Tamako and then my younger sister was Takako. Our two brothers in the other hand were Tensei and Toshiyuki. Everyone neatly lined on the same row of kana.” Tsubaki chuckled. Tsukiko didn’t mention how grateful she was for the translation of the kanji in the names. But the explanation did make sense.

“And your father’s siblings then? Were they in the t-row or… u-line?”

“U-line. He had three sisters: Yukimi, Kumiko and Sumika.”

“So basically, there is always something in common between siblings but when the generation goes down, the children inherit the first syllable? Or at least the first born does.”

“Yes. It is not always… Takako-chan and I wouldn’t have needed to follow the tradition as we married into other families but Ki’ichi was dear and liked the names we came up with from Tsu-syllable.” Tsubaki chuckled.

“It’s a nice tradition.” Tsukiko smiled back. “You don’t mind that kaachan didn’t go along with it?”

“She was a Kagemiya. She had no obligation to it, just like Tsubame-chan didn’t have to and Tsukasa-kun wouldn’t have had to if he’d ever married.”

“I see…”

“Speaking of family… I’ve decided to organize a gathering among the remaining members of Kagemiya and Midorikawa families.” Tsubaki got up and walked out of the piano room. Tsukiko folded the family tree and hurried to follow the woman. They made their way to the Japanese style sitting room and the drawers at one wall. Tsubaki opened one of the drawers and pulled three letters from there. She remained standing there, looking at the sealed letters. “I thought about things we discussed yesterday. About the deaths of my son and daughter… About the danger you and Shugo-kun are in and… I think it’s time to gather the Alliance.”

“And for Alliance to stand strong, we need at least three of the central families united. In this case, the Kagemiya and the Midorikawa… and maybe the Ayanokoji too. Even those members who were born under different names.” Tsukiko surmised and then blinked at her own knowledge. Tsubaki turned around, a smile on her lips.

“There you go… Let the memories and knowledge come back to you with time. It’s all there if you just let it come back with its own time.” The woman gave the three letters to Tsukiko. “In the end there aren’t that many people to contact anymore. Our branch has dwindled to six members and I don’t even know where Lucas-san is anymore… Ki’ichi’s sister’s family is down to two… His brother died young and unless he had children outside marriage – which I doubt – there is no one there… My family… There is Takako-chan’s son and Toshiyuki-kun’s son and daughter. Tensei-kun had a son who died as a child… But my siblings are all dead and buried.”

“And you are giving these letters to be because?”

“Given stories you’ve told about your time in Tokyo and elsewhere… You’ve already met them all.” The woman stated cryptically.

Tsukiko looked at the letters in her hand. They were all sealed with wax and signet ring. The seal in two of them depicted a traditional Japanese castle while the wax itself was very dark blue. Kagemiya. Shadow palace, indeed.

The third letter in the other hand had emerald green wax with old-fashioned stylized river in it. Midorikawa. Green river. Tsukiko had once seen the image in a book that had showed examples about how kanji had evolved into their simpler forms.

She turned the letters around to read the names. The kanji were the same she’d seen on the family trees. Two of them from Kagemiya family tree, the two sisters who were Tsukiko’s second cousins. And one from Midorikawa family tree. A first cousin once removed.

“This person is Takako-san’s son?” She blinked at the name. Tsubaki just smiled.

“He was quite close with Tsukasa-kun when Tsukasa-kun lived and studied in Tokyo. They were like brothers really… And as you can see, naming tradition is quite nice, isn’t it?”

* * *

 

“Okay, stop admiring yourself. Your hair is nice, I get it, no need to gaze admiringly at it through the window reflection.” Shugo groused. Tsukiko looked up with a smirk. They were sitting in the shinkasen back to Tokyo and the girl hadn’t stopped looking outside the window and twisting her sidelocks between her fingers.

“Does it bother you?”

“…You look like Ei-chan.”

“I do not!”

“Yes, you do. Maybe your hair doesn’t lie as flat as his and maybe your bangs are different but the style is the same anyways. Down to the length of the sidelocks.” The boy teased.

“Stop it! Besides my hair is still longer than his!”

“I shall not!” Shugo laughed. “Kami, I’ve missed this. Hei-chan and Shin-chan were always fun to rile up too, but I rarely see them anymore… Good to have you back, Tsukiko.”

“Good to be back.” Tsukiko shrugged with a smile but sobered then. “Why haven’t you been interested in knowing more about our family? I’m sure Tsubaki-baasan would’ve helped you. No need to rely on my memories that might not even return in the timeframe you desire.”

“…I didn’t want to go there. At first, I didn’t know about the Kagemiya, I just forged some records for us both to exist. But then the world adapted to us and I remembered the beach and okaa-san. I erased all my hard work but all the same I realized that if I went to Kyoto, I’d find Hoshi, not Tsukiko. And I didn’t want that. I did search for clues of your wellbeing while I could. Like when you were cheering on Okita Soushi-san during his match against Hei-chan. Shizuka-san sent me a video and you were captured on it.” Shugo smiled at the memory. “But mostly I just wanted to concentrated on what I had then and making connections for the future so you’d be safe.”

“Okay… I can’t say I understand but…” The girl looked out of the window. “Thank you for looking after me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You do realize that Tsubaki-baasan has been teaching me to take over family connections eventually? Even though you are older than I now.”

“Ah… Can’t be helped I guess. Ganbatte?”

“What’s with that uncertain tone?!”

* * *

 

The bell ring when Tsukiko stepped into Café Poirot. A quick glance around told her that only Azusa and Mai were on shift. Apparently Amuro was to work in the evening. Good.

“Welcome to Café Poirot!” Azusa greeted. “Ah, Tsukiko-san. The usual?”

“Yes, please.” Tsukiko sat down on the table furthest from the window to wait for her order. To think that she was regular enough to have a ‘usual’.

“That jacket looks a bit too big for you.” Mai mused when she placed a can of white tea and piece of chocolate cake in front of Tsukiko. The now short-haired girl took the tea can and once Mai placed a tea cup for her, poured herself some. The refreshing aroma wafted from the cup and Tsukiko couldn’t help but smile.

“It originally belonged to my uncle. It’s a protector’s jacket!” The girl replied. “I found it at Tsubaki-baasan’s house and asked if I could keep it. Tsubaki-baasan said it was okay and when I found Tsukasa-jisan’s keys from the pocket, she also gave the address to his house in Tokyo. I just came back from checking it out.”

“I see…” The bespectacled girl mused. “Your uncle is dead then.”

“Yeah… Hmm, given your family’s connections, you might’ve heard of him. Kagemiya Tsukasa.”

“Ah! The missing heir! It was quite the gossip in the circles back then… Never met him myself and neither did Takuya-nii but…” Mai’s eyes widened in realization. “He was your uncle then.”

“Yes.”

“My condolences then. Losing him must have been hard.”

“I’m already over it but thank you.” Tsukiko smiled wanly. “I might not remember much and his death might hit me all over again when I do remember but… Is it silly to hang onto him so much? I mean… I’m not trying to reach to either of my parents like this.”

“I don’t think it’s silly at all. Especially if your grandmother was the one to raise you and your uncle used to visit you. If you have not seen your parents in years, why would you miss them?” Mai shrugged. “Okay, it might be my own bias speaking as I don’t actually know your parents but… There is nothing wrong in seeking support from other members of family instead of those of closest blood relation. Just look at _me_! I can’t stand my own parents and Takuya-nii is the biggest support I have in my life aside from Kouki-san.”

“Okay. Thanks. What do you think about my new hair cut?” Tsukiko grinned then, eyes drawing close.

“Very cute. It suits you.” Mai smiled back. “So… how was your uncle’s house then?”

“Dusty. Extremely so. Thankfully the cupboards and fridge were empty in the past three years but no one has gone there in ages so dust has gathered…”

“What are you going to do about it then?” Mai asked when she started to wipe the table next to Tsukiko’s while the other girl took a sip from her tea.

“I thought about asking a bit of help in cleaning the place up.” Tsukiko grinned over the rim of the teacup. “Since Ran-san and Suzuki-san have so much experience in cleaning up Kudou-senpai’s place… You and Namida-chan are naturally welcome too.”

“I’ll think about it. Tell me when and I’ll try to see if I can arrange my shifts around it.” Mai shrugged.

“Well, there is no need to hurry yet.” Tsukiko mused. “I need to go through the place anyways first… But I’ve thought about moving in there. I wouldn’t even need to pay for it since it’s Kagemiya property…”

“You want to get out of Jodie-sensei’s apartment then?”

“Yes… Don’t get me wrong, she is a nice woman and all but I can’t impose her forever. Especially not when I’ve figured out where I’m from and all. And shuttling between her place and Subaru-nii’s place is sometimes a bit of a chore…” Tsukiko chuckled mirthlessly. “I would have to take a bus from Tsukasa-jisan’s house so I’d get to school but in the end it isn’t that far away. And I don’t even need to change busses or anything.”

“If you wish so, it sounds quite good.” Mai nodded thoughtfully. Over the counter Azusa requested the girl’s help and the brunette left with a short goodbye to Tsukiko who dug in her cake slice.

* * *

 

“Namida-chan, chotto!” Tsukiko hurried after her other friend she’d spotted walking ahead of her. Namida turned around, careful of the grocery bag on her arms and smiled at the approaching girl.

“Ohayo, Tsukiko-san.” The shy girl smiled.

“Ohayo-san, Namida-chan!” Tsukiko greeted with a smile. Namida blinked before smiling.

“Kansai-ben, Tsukiko-san?”

“Hai, Kyoto-ben to be exact. I went to visit my… home last weekend and… well, some words are sticking with me now.” Tsukiko shrugged with a sheepish grin. “I try not to use it too much until I get the intonation correct in the words but… I’m not actively avoiding the vocabulary either. What comes naturally to me, I shall say.”

“I see. It’s good to see you doing well again. You seemed so tired last I saw of you.” Namida smiled sympathetically.

“Yes. Thank you for getting me to the nurse’s office.”

“You’re welcome. Where are you headed to by the way?”

“I’m delivering a letter… and then I’m going to Bell Tree Tower where Suzuki-san will be giving us a tour.”

“Bell Tree… Aren’t you afraid of heights, Tsukiko-san?” There was a thoughtful frown.

“Only if I don’t have anything solid beneath my feet.” They were walking past the Agasa house when Tsukiko slipped the letter into the mailbox before continuing walking with Namida. And if the letter was slipped inside another that read ‘Haibara Ai’ as the recipient instead of ‘Miyano Shiho’, that was her business.

* * *

 

The view from Bell Tree Tower was magnificent. There was no doubt about it, even if the elevator ride to the viewing platform was a bit stifling. The kids were naturally excited about getting to see the view and Sonoko was having the time of her life teasing Kogoro. Tsukiko could only shake her head when Kogoro accidentally went into the wrong elevator in his panic.

“Mou, otou-san… I’m sorry about this Sonoko.” Ran apologized.

“Don’t worry. This is normal for him, isn’t it?” Sonoko said smugly.

“Leave the poor man alone, Suzuki-san.” She sighed and leant her elbows against the banister.

“Nah, let’s just enjoy the great view from the Bell Tree!”

“Nee, Sonoko, what’s that building?” Ran pointed a bit to the left.

“Oh, that small thing is the Asakusa Sky Court. No connection to the Suzuki Financial Group.”

Small thing… It was easily one of the highest buildings in the area. And not even finished at that…

“Even after it’s finished, it’ll probably only come up to this first observation deck at most.” Sonoko continued.

“That’s one for Bell Tree then.” Genta commented.

“Of course!” The rich girl laughed.

“Ano ne, have a look at that river! It’s got so many bridges!” Ayumi noticed then.

“Aa, that’s Sumidagawa.” Conan explained.  “The blue one over there is Komagata-bashi. The red one is Azuma-bashi. And that railway bridge right ahead of us is the Touto Bell Tree Line.”

“Oh! There’s a train!” Mitsuhiko noticed.

“It’s so cool!” Genta echoed.

“Are? It’s stopping on the bridge…” Ayumi muttered.

“It’s just slowing down. Asakusa Station is right on the other side of the bridge, after all.” Mitsuhiko explained. “That’s right! How about we make a miniature model of the Touto Bell Tree Tower and its surroundings for our summer homework project?”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Genta agreed.

“It sounds fun! Conan-kun, Ai-chan, let’s all work together!” Ayumi invited the other two along.

Tsukiko smiled at the children’s excitement. And in her mind thanked the fact that she hadn’t needed to do summer homework in _Before_. Though remembering what Hoshi had done might be handy in the case the kids got in their heads to ask her for tips… Ugh.

She just wanted to enjoy this moment for a little bit longer… And preferably without that soon-to-be-corpse swindling foreigners with loud voice and irritating English accent. And his customers-slash-victims being obviously Americans given their reactions.

Tsukiko pulled her phone out and began tapping a message. General complaining about the obnoxious behavior of the trio on her right. How the real estate seller was obviously swindling the two with 30-years-old house that had 4-star view and thanks to Bell Tree would _certainly_ be a 5-star property. And how the couple absolutely _loved_ the house without apparently even seeing it close up first…

Amuro would surely lend a sympathetic ear to her.

And then…

 _Oh, someone apparently shot_  
_him. Maybe he swindled the_  
 _wrong person in the past._  
 _-Tsuki_

Ran screamed next to her. The visitors in the tower panicked.

“It’s a sniper! Everybody get down!” Conan shouted from where Ai had already hit the deck. Tsukiko ducked and looked at the message Amuro had sent back.

 _Are you alright? Are you_  
_still at Bell Tree? Is anyone_  
 _else hurt?_  
 _-A_

The girl laid on her back and tapped a message while Conan was using his glasses to locate the sniper.

 _It was a sniper. No other_  
_shots fired. I think C will_  
 _give a chase. I’ll follow._  
 _-Tsuki_

Then she pocketed her phone and from an agile roll back on her feet, she sprinted towards the door, mere moment before the boy did the same.

Conan went to one direction, Tsukiko went to another. On the way she met with Sera.

“Sumi-nee!?” The girl gasped in surprise.

“Ohayo!” The tomboy grinned. “Hisashiburi, Tsukiko.”

“You on a job?” Despite Tsukiko’s foreknowledge, it was a reasonable assumption since Sera had been taking jobs and she hadn’t been with Ran, Sonoko and the kids even though Sonoko would’ve surely invited her too.

“Yeah. But now my target is dead so…” Sera shrugged and Tsukiko chuckled.

“You do realize that sounds like you were in a league with whomever took the shot.” Tsukiko smirked wryly.

“Ah… True…” The elevator came to a stop. “I’ve got my motorbike close. There is an extra helmet too.”

“Okay. Tantei-chan went to get his turbo-engined skateboard from Agasa-hakase’s car. But no matter how fast it is or how skillful he is with using it. Going to traffic and chasing the culprit is going to be dangerous.” Tsukiko zipped her jacket up and accepted the helmet given. “This is going to break so many laws…”

“Well, desperate times require desperate measures. Ever ridden a motorbike before?”

“Once. It was in Kyoto. Hattori-san, tantei-chan combination.”

“Ah, you got the basics down then.” Sera grinned when Tsukiko settled behind her. “Hold on tight!”

“Hai!”

* * *

 

North of Mitsumedori. To the left to cross Sumidagawa by Kototoi-bashi…

“I can see him!” Sera shouted.

“Me too!” The truck ahead of them was changing lines and couldn’t see Conan… “Hurry!”

“Prepare to catch him!”

But Conan ducked underneath the truck. Tsukiko let out a sigh of relief. The motorbike ahead of them turned to one-way street and from there to busy road. And opened fire at Conan, hitting another car’s tires! The car went out of control and forced Conan close to guardrail!

“Now!” Sera yelled and pressed more gas. Tsukiko held out an arm while holding onto the older girl with her other one. She caught the kid but skateboard was an unfortunate sacrifice.

“What the hell are you– I mean, what are you doing here, Sera-no-neechan?” Conan asked once they stopped. Tsukiko settled the kid more securely between them. No thanks. Of course…

“I’ll explain later! Let’s go!” Sera stated.

* * *

 

In the distance Tsukiko could hear sirens while Sera explained her involvement to Conan.

“Eh? You were at the Bell Tree?”

“I was following the man that was shot. As a detective.”

“Then you were there when is happened, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. I never though he’d be murdered.”

“I still maintain the opinion that he had swindled a wrong person.” Tsukiko mused.

“Saa…” Sera hummed. “I see him! Hold on tight!”

Kuramae-bashi was full of police cars… and fire. The trio skidded to halt when a hand grenade exploded.

“He’s insane…” Tsukiko muttered when shielding her face from the heat. The sheer amount of property damage and casualties… And the culprit flew out of the flaming inferno, landing right before them and driving past.

“Kuso! Hold on, we’re going after him!” Sera cursed.

“No, provoking him further is too dangerous.” Conan said.

“Did you tag him, tantei-chan?” Tsukiko asked idly while pulling out her phone.

“Yeah. We’ll know where he’d headed soon enough.” The boy replied, activating his glasses.

“In the meanwhile… would it be okay to pick another motorcycle helmet then?” Tsukiko scrolled the map on her phone. “There is a shop close-by and they have a model I’ve been eyeing a while. Well, ever since I found out about Shugo and the fact he has a motorbike.”

“He does?” Conan blinked.

“Yeah, he was actually the ‘Green Person’ Sugiura Kaito-kun wrote about in his diary. Shugo’s motorbike is green so it makes sense.” Tsukiko shrugged.

“Really?!” The boy’s eyes widened before narrowing. No doubt recalling what was written about the Green Person in the diary and connecting it to knowing where Akai had been directly after Raiha Pass.”

“Really. Saa, let’s go.”

“Sure.” Sera grinned and they sped back to the direction they’d been coming from.

* * *

 

With a new helmet and Conan using the borrowed one, they headed for the culprit’s location.

“He might have another getaway vehicle there.” Conan concluded about the location given.

“This is bad… Let’s hurry!” Sera said.

“Yeah! But be careful!”

“I know! We’re just going to check!”

“It’s never ‘just checking’ when it comes to detectives!” Tsukiko protested. When they drove on, she spied through the bike’s side mirror a black nondescript car driving behind them. Jodie and James…

Between the containers was the getaway bike parked. And when they stopped… The culprit himself stepped out. Tsukiko wanted to hit the two for having their faces in full view. At least her helmet covered her chin and she hadn’t flipped the visor up.

A gun was aimed at them. Tsukiko grabbed a hold of Sera’s jacket and other arm went around Conan’s middle and then she threw all her weight to the right. In the progress she also kicked Sera’s right leg so it wouldn’t be flattened by the bike.

**_Bang!_ **

The bullet clipped Sera’s helmet when they all went down. Conan got up. Idiot.

“Kuso… Sera! Oi, Sera!”

Tsukiko took out her phone and called Amuro. She heard him answer just in time to hear the screeching of tires and more gunshots when the culprit shot at the FBI’s car.

“Agent Camel!” Conan gasped when the agent stepped out of the car to shield them. Just when more shots were fired at his bulletproof vest.

More screeching and shots. Jodie’s distant shouts.

“ **You’re mine! Bring it on!** ”

And then the explosion.

“What the hell!” Tsukiko couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Ouch…” Sera gritted her teeth when getting up.

“Are you okay, Sera-no-neechan?” Conan asked.

“It was just a clip on the helmet, right?” Tsukiko asked right after, sitting up.

“Y-Yeah… If I didn’t have this, I’d be dead for sure…” Sera answered.

“Looks like neither of you are hurt.” Camel stated.

“Never mind that, are you okay, Agent Camel?” Conan walked up to the man. On the background, police cars were arriving.

“ **No problem**. I was wearing this.” The agent showed the vest hidden underneath his shirt. “About Jodie-san’s gun…”

“Keep is a secret, right?”

Secret…

“Tsukiko, is that your phone?” Sera asked then.

“Aah! I must’ve dropped it!” Tsukiko picked it up. No scratches, good. “I was about to send a message when the bad guy appeared. Talk about a bad timing… It started to call… Moshi moshi? Tsukiko desu…”

 _“Tsukiko-san…”_ The familiar voice of the waiter-slash-NOC-slash-private-eye began. Oh, it was serious. He’d swapped from ‘Okiya-chan’ to ‘Tsukiko-san’. Personally, Tsukiko didn’t mind the change but the tone.

“Gomen… It was an accident.” The girl hung her head when she got on her feet.

 _“Do you understand how worried I was when you send an e-mail saying you and Conan-kun were chasing a sniper and next comes a call with gunshots in the background?”_ Amuro didn’t shout. Thankfully. But at the same time that calm… It was like a calm preceding a storm.

“I’m sorry.” She said with a small voice. For some reason Jodie’s scolding’s didn’t dig out such feelings of guilt. But then again, they were usually after the fact and when Tsukiko was well and safe.

_“Are you at least alright?”_

“Hai… Just a bit scratched from falling off motorbike but it was that or getting shot so…” She shrugged but then grimaced at the pain shooting through her right shoulder. “Ow…”

From the corner of her eye she saw Sera and Conan getting up and following after Camel and went after them.

_“Tsukiko-san… I know things are complicated right now… but would you be willing to sit down someday and get the facts straight with me?”_

“Huh?” Tsukiko blinked but had to think then. She had told so many lies to people in order to make them stop looking at her past. Jodie and Amuro being only fraction of them. “Sure… There is something I got to talk to you about later too.”

_“Oh…”_

“My name is Kagemiya Hoshi, I’m the daughter of Kagemiya Tsubasa and Lucas Ahola, sister of Kagemiya Daiki who goes by the name Midorikawa Shugo. The file I showed you weeks back… Michiko was a fake name my mother used.”

_“I’m sorry for your loss.”_

“Thank you. I gotta go now though. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on these two and make sure they’re alright.” She hung up and pocketed her phone, ready for police questioning. The names she’d given to Amuro would keep him satisfied for a while.

* * *

 

They were being debriefed by the three FBI agents about the suspected sniper, Timothy Hunter, and his possible motives, including the murder that happened in Seattle couple of weeks ago. They made sense and what Tsukiko remembered about the movie conclusion, the people who died, had it coming.

“As for the sniping, we discovered some strange items from the roof of the building suspected to be the sniping position.” Shiratori stood up from his chair.

“Strange items?” Jodie repeated.

“Chiba-kun.”

“Right.” The chubby officer got up and walked up to the whiteboard. “In the space for the cleaning rails on the side facing the Bell Tree Tower, we found a die and a 51 mm bullet shell.” The put the photo of the items up. “The shell has the same caliber as the 7,62 mm bullet used in the crime.”

“It also matches the NATO bullets used by MK11, Hunter’s favourite rifle.” Black stated.

“Sort of redundant question but…” Tsukiko lifted her hand up. “Could that shell be from the bullet that killed the man in Bell Tree Tower?”

“Very likely but until the forensics are done, we can’t know for sure.” Megure replied. Tsukiko put her hand down with a nod.

“About this die… Was there a die left with the shell at the sniping position in the Seattle case as well?” Shiratori asked.

“No, I haven’t heard about anything like a die being found there, but there _is_ a connection between Hunter and dice.” Camel answered. “Hunter loved playing dice games, and has a tattoo of dice here on his left arm.” The man indicated his left bicep.

“I-I see.”

“It’s tenuous connection, but it means Hunter could be trying to leave some sort of message with this die.” Megure stated.

“Yes. And the greatest piece of evidence that Hunter was behind this, lies with the victim.” Black added.

“You mean that Hunter had a definite motive for murdering Fujinami-san?” Megure asked.

“Yes.” Jodie took over the explanation. “Seven years ago, Fujinami Hiroaki sold Hunter substandard Japanese property, and is responsible for bankrupting him.”

“What?!”

Tsukiko snorted at their surprise.

“Something funny, Okiya-san?” Satou snapped. Tsukiko leant back in her seat and shrugged.

“Well, it’s known that whether they like it or not, but Japan is much more racist that they want to let out. It’s incredibly hard for foreigners to get good houses either by renting not to mention owning them. Considering what I saw this… Fujinami doing with that American couple… it was obvious that he was swindling them. I mean, the entire Japanese culture reflect trust in community and conforming to norms. Using school uniforms and adhering to dress code is only part of it. I’m a hafu, I’ve garnered my share of stares, especially when I still had blond hair… So given the country we live in Fujinami swindling Hunter is not out of the realm of possibility.”

“Well, anyways, that mean Hunter’s the culprit for sure.” Kogoro commented.

“Speaking of Fujinami-san, why was Sera-no-neechan tailing him?” Conan spoke up then.

“That’s right…” Takagi mused.

“Why were you tailing Fujinami-san?” Satou asked.

“A relative of a classmate of mine was thinking about marrying Fujinami, but she thought he was involved in something fishy, so she asked me to conduct a background check on him.” Sera answered. And during my investigation I found out about Fujinami swindling good-natured foreigners by selling them substandard Japanese property.”

“Got what he was asking for then…” Tsukiko muttered but considering the elbow Conan dug into her side, she wasn’t quiet enough.

“Well, it’s awful that he was murdered, but it’s good in the sense that the relative isn’t interested in getting remarried anymore.” Sera continued. “Oh, that’s right. From what you’ve said, I doubt this will be the end of Hunter’s crime spree.”

 _“That’s right. Wasn’t there a later a case… the one where Ran collapsed in the bathroom, where Sera had been investigating for a relative of a classmate too?”_ Tsukiko thought.

“Yes, you’re right.” Shiratori agreed with the female high school detective.

“Is there anyone else that Hunter might want dead?” Megure asked the FBI agents.

“Jodie-kun, the photos.” Black said. “The FBI believe there are at least three people he may be after.”

“T-Three people?!”

“Yes. We believe he is likely to try and murder these three people.” Jodie stated after putting the three photos up on the board. Jack Waltz, Bill Murphy…

“Well, can’t murder them if they are in San Diego.” Kogoro smiled.

“No, they’re both currently in Japan.” Black interjected.

“What?!”

“Walts arrived in Kyoto with his family two days ago, and Murphy’s staying in Nikkou. They’re planned to be in the country for another eight days.”

“And finally…” Jodie pointed at the last photo. Moriyama Hitoshi. Whereabouts unknown.

“So two out of three are in Japan.” Ran said in worry.

“He’s going to target them for sure!” Kogoro decided.

“Right. Alert the Kyoto and Tochigi Police immediately.” Megure nodded. “Okay! Put out an urgent warrant looking for Timothy Hunter as a key person in this case!”

“I can call Fumimaro-han.” Tsukiko offered and got up from her seat. “He asked me for an update anyways.”

Finally the debrief was over.

* * *

 

They were walking away from the station when Sera stopped.

“Still, I wonder why that Hunter guy decided to seek revenge now, six years later?” The high school detective pondered aloud.

“Right…” Sonoko nodded.

“I see what you mean.” Ran agreed.

“I’d rather wonder if it’s actually Hunter shooting people.” Tsukiko stated. “Because excellent shot or not. Motive or not… Head injuries are not a thing you can recover just like that. Not even after eight years. Hunter was incredibly lucky to survive the bullet and the surgery. But there is no way he could’ve made the shot to Bell Tree Tower in that condition. Especially if he needs to use meds constantly to even function normally.”

“It just happened to be now, that’s all.” Kogoro groused. “Still, you better stop playing your detective games! You almost died out there! And brat! You better not go wandering off either!”

“Hai!” Conan smiled.

“Aww, you _do_ care, Mouri-tantei.” Tsukiko grinned.

“Sera-san, I am glad that you weren’t hurt…” Ran began with downcast eyes. “But please don’t put Conan-kun… Don’t put Conan-kun in danger again, okay?”

A knot formed in Tsukiko’s stomach. The nerve! While she understood that Ran was worried about Conan, but by now the boy had been in many near-death situations. Especially when it came to movie climaxes. And since movies did happen in this world… Now she was digressing… But to ask that from Sera even though they all had gone after the culprit fully aware that he was dangerous. Not to mention that they’d _saved_ Conan from that car…

“Don’t worry! I’ll make use to protect Conan-kun.” Sera smiled. “Not to mention, there’s no bullet that can shoot through Conan-kun’s heart right now. Or your heart either, of course!”

“Me too!” Tsukiko spoke up. “I might not be able to stop detectives from investigating but I can try my damnest to keep them safe. Okay?”

“Okay…” Ran said a bit uncertainly.

“Good. Sumi-nee, can you give me a ride?” Tsukiko heaved her new helmet on her shoulder. Sera twirled the motorbike keys between her fingers.

“Sure. Where to?” The tomboy asked.

“Kudou House. I’ll be spending the night with Subaru-nii.”

* * *

 

There were fireworks.

“Upgraded ball-dispensing belt.” Tsukiko said when Subaru went to the window to see what was going on at the roof of the Agasa house. “I do wonder how Agasa-hakase managed to fit the fireworks into the belt buckle.”

“They certainly have fun.” The man stated. “By the way, are you alright? After what happened today…”

“I… I guess it has not sunk yet. And considering the situations I’ve gotten before… Especially Touto Tower case… It wasn’t really even a close call for me. For Sera, yes, with that bulled. For Kudou, yes, with that car. But not for me.” Tsukiko got up from the chair and stretched. “Oyasumi, Subaru-nii.”

“Oyasumi, Tsukiko.” The man wished back.

* * *

 

End of the day. The next day that was. Tsukiko had been spending the day at Kudou house before leaving to meet with Amuro in a café at Teito Department Store. This time she was wearing just a plain denim jacket.

“Thank you for coming, Tsukiko-san.” The man greeted her.

“Thank you for making time for this meeting, Amuro-san. I’m sure you have a busy schedule.” Tsukiko smiled back, taking a seat. The two of them made their orders and waited for them in silence. Once they had them, and Tsukiko had taken a sip of her jasmine tea, she leant back in her seat and looked in the eyes of the private eye in front of her. Amuro had not even touched his orders.

“So…” The man began. “I think you have a lot to explain.”

“Did you find out anything useful in the past 24 hours?” Tsukiko asked back. “I did give you a bunch of names.”

“Names which in the end yielded no help with Kyoto Police stonewalling us.”

 _Us._ Us as in _Furuya Rei_ ’s comrades?

“Ayanokoji-keibu is a family friend. And Kyoto is the turf of the Alliance. It is not easy to get information about us which is why most of us use fake names. Some remnant from Bakumatsu era I suppose…” Tsukiko mused, taking another sip. Tsubaki had told her about the reasons for alternative names. The Kagemiya had supported the Shogun when the American’s were demanding entry but at the same time they’d been curious about the foreign commodities and culture and investigated on their own, under different names so their family wouldn’t be accused of treason.

“Mostly, I’m concerned about the things you told me when we were on the way to the tennis meetup. You know as well as I do that you lied a lot back then. Some of it can be excused with your amnesia which you weren’t aware of and you were doing so in order to protect yourself but now…” Amuro leant his elbows against the table.

“Now that I actually know where I come from and whom I’m connected to, I need to make sure false information isn’t spread around…” She paused and continued then with a smile. “And give enough facts to you to keep you satisfied and not go poking for more.”

Amuro chuckled.

“True enough.”

“Not everything I told you was a lie. And some things that I said were constructed around my assumptions about my own situation.” The girl sighed. “I’m a hafu. My father is European and my mother Japanese. They both worked for Interpol. My mother was a loan to Saitama police under the name Michiko until her death. I don’t know where my father is and frankly I don’t care either. I was in accident after my mother’s funerals and then spend quite the good time unconscious in hospital, hence the memory loss. When I woke up I gave my fake name to the nurse – Okiya Tsukiko. Subaru-nii is a family friend so he went along with my adopted story. I guess Shugo persuaded him a day before I met him.”

“Midorikawa-kun is your full-blooded brother then?”

“Yes. But he is as good as a stranger to be right now… It’s been ten years since we spent any time together properly. If there were something else in between, I’ve not remembered it yet. I did find out that he used the name Hibiki Boshi to pay my hospital bills.” Tsukiko smiled a bit ruefully. “Probably why I told you about Kagemiya Boshi, too.”

“Well, you certainly have the same intuition than he does.”

“Thank you.”

“And your original name is… Kagemiya Hoshi?”

“Yes. And Shugo was Kagemiya Daiki until ten years ago when he began living with Ishikawa-san.”

Amuro frowned faintly. It seemed that his previous conclusions weren’t that far off the base but this new information certainly added to it. Tsukiko did have a blood-brother. Brother which used the name Hibiki even. To think Midorikawa Shugo was the hacker bothering the organization was certainly a surprise. But then that left the identity of Kage as… not so mystery.

“You are Kage, aren’t you?” The man asked the girl in front of him. In the end it didn’t surprise him as much it should’ve. The warning to stay away from the Okiya siblings, the confusing pronouns used by other members of the organization, the name given when he first asked her… Just put on a jacket that conceals the shape of her torso and a cap that shadows her eyes, speak from a lower register and voila! You had an androgynous person out of her.

“Bingo!” The girl smirked.

And this also meant that she had the NOC-list that the Hunters had been using. She was their leader and decided to order in which the targets were eliminated. Her brother was the one to track those targets down and Yamato was the one taking the targets out.

“Your honestly is appreciated… but are you sure you can trust me with that much?” Amuro asked. Given the fact that Tsukiko was connected to Vermouth, there was no way she would not know about him. Especially after cornering him at Mouri Detective Agency to threaten him.

“You’re cut from the same cloth than someone else I know. I trust you with my secrets. But unfortunately, I can’t trust you with my life or freedom.” She shrugged.

Sensing the time to change the topic, Amuro reached for his own cup of coffee.

“Are you going to continue solving this… sniper case too?”

“Well, not solving per say…” Tsukiko mused and flagged the waitress down for a bill. “But with Edogawa-kun and Sera-san running after the truth… someone’s gotta keep an eye on them. I’m not as smart as they are but what I can do is watch their backs so they don’t get hurt. That’s almost as important as solving the case itself. Right, Zero-san?”

Amuro had closed his eyes for a moment of savor the bitterness of his coffee whilst listening to the girl speak but his eyes flew open when hearing the name she had used to address him.

But she was already gone. Only exactly the correct amount of yen was left on top of the bill, next to her empty teacup.

_“That girl…”_

This was troublesome.

* * *

 

Next day. Third day of people getting sniped down. Tsukiko woke up to Conan mailing her information about two other people dying. Moriyama Hitoshi last night and Timothy Hunter himself in the early morning hours. And some television wise-crack managed to entice panic by saying anyone could be target now. The internet was blowing up.

“Well, good thing it’s Golden Week and there is no absolute need to go anywhere…” Tsukiko muttered before putting her phone away. Jodie was working on the case. Sera and Conan were sticking to indoors while scouring for whatever information they could find.

And that’s how the third day went by.

* * *

 

Fourth day began. The trio converged by Sumidagawa, near the spot of floating platform from which Hunter had been shot.

“It’s really strange… It’s the closest-range sniping yet, but they both missed once.” Sera stated whilst peering through binoculars. Conan was reading map which had the sniping locations, victim locations and the distances marked. Tsukiko was sketching once again.

“Yeah…” Conan nodded.

“Maybe they were both nervous about facing another sniper.”

“I’m concerned about all the snipings being near Asakusa too.” The boy continued.

“Right…” Sera nodded. “Maybe there’s some other special meaning behind the dice, ranges and lines of fire…”

“I think we should also consider why the dice were left on the sniping spots and not near the victims. It wouldn’t have been that hard to hide a dice at Bell Tree or near Yasuhara residence… Or even Hunter’s location…” Tsukiko stated. “One of the key characteristics of snipers is patience. Patience to find out about their victims and wait for the opportune moment to shoot. Fujinami and Moriyama had clear routines and Hunter himself was in hiding. They would’ve been easy pickings any moment.”

“That might be…” Sera began but was interrupted by Conan’s phone ringing.

“What is it, Jodie-sensei?” The boy asked and put the phone on speaker.

 _“We did that clinical autopsy, like you suggested.”_ The FBI agent began. _“There were a lot of painkillers in his stomach, really strong ones.”_

“Painkillers?” Sera repeated.

_“And we found out why, when we did an MRI of his skull. There was a bullet shard embedded near his brain stem. And it wasn’t recent…”_

“The bullet he took in the war eight years ago, right?” Conan confirmed.

_“Yes. The removal was deemed success, but a fragment must’ve been left behind. It would’ve put pressure on his nerves, especially his optic nerves. He would’ve suffered from frequent and intense migranes, and was probably nearly blind.”_

“So, I _was_ right.” Tsukiko mused. “Hunter shooting those people was incredibly unlikely.”

“Nearly blind? Must’ve been hard for him to snipe Woods in Seattle, then…” Sera began.

“What if the current sniper was behind that too?” Conan suggested.

“But then there’s no reason for the showdown with Hunter…”

“No. There’s one possible reason.”

“Student fighting the master… A fight to death to see if the student was worth of putting time and effort into… to see if the student can handle himself on his own and be good enough to eventually take a student of his own and pass on the skills… Isn’t that quite often used plot device in fantasy and pseudo-historical books?” Tsukiko thought aloud.

“Yeah. And if so, then there’s another meaning behind the second Japanese sniping and the sniping of Hunter.” Conan nodded. They wished goodbyes then and Conan called Takagi immediately.

_“Hai? Takagi desu…”_

“Takagi-keiji, it’s Conan.”

_“Ah! Conan-kun! You’ve got a great timing. Could you tell Mouri-san that Lee-san actually happened to have an alibi, and also–…”_

“Never mind him, what about Waltz-san and Murphy-san?” The boy interrupted.

_“Waltz-san’s still in Kyoto, but Murphy-san said he felt safe now, and left without a word to the local police guard, boarding the Oururi Express train leaving for Tokyo at 9 am. Apparently someone sent him a ticket, and he’d promised to see them.”_

“Sent him a ticket?!” Sera gasped. Tsukiko swallowed. This was the day…

“If he left at nine…” Conan muttered.

“Apparently he’d going to arrive at Asakusa Station at eleven.”

“What if that was trap set by the sniper?!” The boy realized and looked up at the teens. Sera was staring back at him while Tsukiko had long time ago put her sketch pad back to her backpack and was seeing the seating order from ticket selling site for the express.

“He’d be watching the platform with the perfect sniping point!” Sera said. “His target would even be sitting in the seat he picked!”

“He’s got to be near Asakusa Station!”

“Those express trains have compartments on the left side of the train… That means the sniper will take a shot from the left side too. We gotta hurry.”

“There is only three minutes left!” Sera went running to her motorbike, the other two following her.

“This is bad, he’s going after Murphy-san!”

* * *

 

Conan was on his fixed skateboard while Tsukiko was riding behind Sera once more. The boy spotted the van on the Komagata-bashi.

“We need to get to Azuma-bashi, Sumi-nee!” Tsukiko instructed, keeping an eye on things around them while the older girl concentrated on driving.

“Roger that!”

And then Conan went flying in one of this impossible skateboard tricks, landing neatly on the bridge. Sera skid to stop.

“Conan-kun! Don’t tell me… he’s going to shoot him while the train’s in motion?!” The tomboy realized.

“What else could it be?” Tsukiko replied. Before them Conan was heading to place his ball-dispensing belt to block the view. He tossed the skateboard and had the belt fly to catch onto the streetlamp in which the ball inflated then. The boy jumped up to the railing to attract Murphy’s attention with the light of his detective badge. And then the soccer ball got shot and gone.

“He’s going to be targeted himself at this rate!” Sera growled and pressed gas.

“There is a laser sight!” Tsukiko shouted, when they were practically flying towards the boy.

“Take the-!” Sera began but Tsukiko pressed her hands on the other girl’s shoulders to keep her in her seat.

“I’ll do it! Just drive and keep it steady!”

And they drove. Tsukiko rose to crouch on her seat and took support from Sera.

“Conan-kun! Look out!” Sera shouted. And Tsukiko jumped.

She didn’t even feel the bullet meant for the boy. She only felt the tiny body in her arms.

“Oki… ya…”

They slammed on the ground. And the pain hit. It burned. Worse than the bullet at Touto Tower. Maybe. But the burn…

“Ugh…” Tsukiko struggled to remain awake. There was something wet under her fingers. It was blurry in her eyes. Did she hit her head? Good she had helmet then… Someone was shouting… Two someones really… Who…? It was like her head was full of fog…

 _“Okiya! Hang in there!”_ There were hands pressing down and moving her hand away. Hurt! Hurt! Who? Tantei-chan?

_“Tsukiko!” Sumi-nee?_

_“How’d this end up happening…”_

_“I’ll call ambulance.”_

_“Kuso! Kuso! Kuso!”_

“Nee…” Tsukiko breathed. And then there was someone opening the visor. The girl grinned through the pain. “I kept my promise, didn’t I?”

* * *

 

In Kyoto station, a phone was ringing. It’s owner answered it when boarding a train.

“Moshi, moshi, Kagemiya desu…”

“Hoshi-chan is…?”

“Thank you for informing me. I’ll come over there right away.” Kagemiya Tsubaki hung up and turned to look out of the window. The ominous feeling had rang true then.

* * *

 

Tsukiko looked around the white space around her. This was familiar. And the two figures sitting on nothing were familiar too.

“Kage? Red Moon?” The girl blinked. “Are you alright? I haven’t heard anything from you since… Since meeting with Shugo.”

“Aah… We are just fine.” Red Moon smiled. “Just wanted to give you time to adjust.”

The woman got up and walked to Tsukiko. She put her hands on the girl’s shoulders gently.

“It’s okay. Whatever you are thinking about your situation, it’s okay.”

“We’ve known since the beginning that you were Jade and this body was Hoshi’s.” Kage added, appearing behind Tsukiko and hugging her from behind with their chin leaning on her right shoulder. “And it’s okay that you are neither because at the same time you are both and we are yours.”

“Mine?”

“Kagemiya Hoshi never awakened her Kage.” They explained. “And if she’d never gone to Tokyo, she never would’ve. You awakened me. I’m yours.”

“And while I’m not exactly the same than no-gender here.” RM chuckled at the glare aimed at her. “I was still born from your desire to have fun but not to be caught. To be free but to have the actual skills to do so. Consider me a plus one, if you will.”

“Okay. You’re mine. Mine, not Hoshi’s.” Tsukiko mused. “Thank you for sticking with me.”

“Hmm… Just try not to get shot again.” Kage grumbled. “You don’t have plot armor like the others do.”

“I’ll try. But I do need to keep my promises too.”

“I also advise some caution…” Red Moon hummed. “But then again… all three of us have a bit of an reckless streak.”

* * *

 

Conan and Sera were attentively listening to the police and the FBI once they’d given their statements about the incident. While Tsukiko was in surgery there was nothing else they could do. And once the surgery was over, the hospital was only allowing the family visit. What made the situation tricky was the fact that on the moment of being shot, Tsukiko had had the identification of Kagemiya Hoshi with her (probably retrieved from Kyoto or given by Shugo) and not that of Okiya Tsukiko. Meaning that her grandmother in Kyoto had been alerted rather than Subaru and not even Jodie, with whom Tsukiko was residing, would be allowed to visit, not to mention any friends.

The surgery took a bit over an hour. The fastest shinkasen from Kyoto to Tokyo took over two hours. They could do nothing but wait.

Shugo appeared as some point to sit on the bench next to Sera and Conan.

“So… what happened?” The hacker asked them.

“The sniper was aiming at Conan-kun when we were trying to save Murphy-san’s life. Tsukiko jumped in front of the bullet from my motorbike.” Sera replied.

“Huh… How reckless.”

“If she hadn’t been with us, I would’ve jumped. I was prepared to jump but she told me to keep the bike steady.”

“Sounds like her.”

“But what I don’t understand… is the promise she spoke about. It couldn’t have been just the one we both made to Ran-chan…” The tomboy mused.

Conan looked away. He knew very well about Tsukiko’s promise to Akai about protecting Sera. But this was a bit too much… She could’ve died…

“I called Okiya-san.” Shugo spoke up then. “He is worried but said he will visit later, once Tsubaki-baa and I have visited.”

“I see. Did he say anything else?” The bespectacled boy asked.

“No. Should he have?” The oldest of the trio arched an eyebrow.

“Well, just making sure. Has anyone else been told?”

“I think that police officer from Haido Hotel called his cousin.” Sera began. “And Ran-chan and Sonoko-chan too…”

“Miyoshi-chan is working now, isn’t she? If Miyoshi-keiji managed to surprise her with the information, I can bet the rest of Café Poirot staff knows too.” Shugo sighed. “And I bet Tsubaki-baa told Ayanokoji-keibu before leaving.”

* * *

 

Ran and Sonoko had arrived too. Mai couldn’t come because it was rush time at Poirot. Namida had been eating at the café when the call came so she’d heard the news too, but had decided to visit together with Mai.

“Ara… have you been here the entire time since the accident?” A new voice greeted them. The teens looked up and Shugo shot from his seat. The rest followed him a bit more sedate pace.

“Tsubaki-baa! You’re early.”

“Miyoshi-keiji appeared at the Asakusa station and gave me a ride.” The woman smiled. She had her steel-gray hair on a bun and she was dressed in plum colored kimono. “My name is Kagemiya Tsubaki. I’m glad to see, Hoshi-chan has so many good friends that worry about her.”

“Kagemiya… Tsubaki-sama…” Sonoko blinked.

“Then the girl we met in Kyoto months ago…” Ran realized. Tsubaki smiled.

“Hoshi-chan was very glad to meet you all back then. And as Tsukiko, I’m sure she liked to get to know you properly, even if she didn’t remember the previous meeting at first.”

“Kagemiya-san? Have you visited Tsukiko-neechan yet?” Conan asked.

“Yes, I have. Tsukiko-chan is asleep for the moment. The surgery was successful.” Tsubaki nodded. “She is in the room 406. You may visit her but please let her sleep.”

“Thank you very much, Kagemiya-san.” Sera bowed.

“Thank you!” The rest of the group echoed. Then Shugo’s attention was caught by the black jacket folded on Tsubaki’s arm.

“Ano… Tsubaki-baa, what is that jacket?” The hacker asked.

“Hm? It’s Tsukasa-kun’s old jacket. I need to wash it and repair it before Tsukiko-chan can use it again.”

“Ano, do you need help with it?” Ran offered.

“Oh, no need. This isn’t the first time I’ve fixed this jacket. But I do am glad this time the wearer didn’t die… This is a protector’s jacket, to be worn when you protect someone you really care aboubt.” Tsubaki explained. Then looking at the guilty faces of Conan and Sera and the stricken look on Ran’s, and smiled. “Oh, don’t make that sort of faces. Tsukasa-kun protected our family. Tsukiko-chan protected her friends. It was her own choice. And is shows her strength of will that she pulled through.”

* * *

 

Shugo left soon after seeing his sister alive and sleeping, probably to talk with Tsubaki a bit more. Sera checked in too but then said she had to return to the hotel. Ran, Sonoko and Conan remained in the room, arranging things and worrying.

“Conan-kun…” Ran approached the boy and crouched down in front of him. “We’ll make sure to look after Tsukiko-chan.”

The boy nodded and looked at the sleeping figure on the bed.

“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. The doctor said her injuries aren’t life-threatening. I’ll let you know as soon as she wakes up, okay?”

He nodded again and tried to smile this time. “Then see you tomorrow.” And he left.

“Still, I’m glad nothing worse happened.” Sonoko stated. “If Tsukiko-chan and Sera-san hadn’t been there for the brat, he’d have been in danger…”

“She risked her life to protect Conan-kun…” Ran said. “And if Tsukiko-chan hadn’t been there, it would’ve been Sera-san…”

“They really put their lives on the line. Remember what Sera-san said before?”

_“Don’t worry! I’ll make sure to protect Conan-kun. Not to mention, there’s no bullet that can shoot through Conan-kun’s heart right now. Or your heart either, of course!”_

“And what Tsukiko-chan said to that, too…”

_“Me too! I might not be able to stop detectives from investigating but I can try my damnest to keep them safe. Okay?”_

“That reminds me, she said there’s no bullet that can shoot through your heart either, Ran…”

“I can’t forgive that sniper.” Ran clenched her fists in anger. “For putting Conan-kun and Tsukiko-chan and Sera-san through all this… I’ll never forgive him!”

“…Nee, Ran, was that bouquet here when we came in?” Sonoko pointed at the flowers on the side table.

“Oh, you’re right… Was someone else just here?” Ran picked up the flowers. It was a very colorful bouquet, fully of pink and violet flowers.

“Who’s it from?”

“I can’t tell… But look, Sonoko, they’re really beautiful.”

“So they are! Let’s put them on her windowsill.”

“Yeah. I’ll go and ask for a vase.”

* * *

 

The door of the Kudou house opened and closed behind the current resident. Okiya Subaru made his way to the library where he knew his guest to be at. Kagemiya Tsubaki was serenely sitting on one of the couches and sewing the bullet holes in Tsukiko’s jacket shut.

“Thank you for visiting her, Okiya-san.” Tsubaki spoke without looking up from her task.

“She has been like a little sister for me… And I’ve become acquainted with her… Shadow as well. Of course I’ll worry.” The man replied. The old woman hummed absently. A silence fell and Subaru went to the desk to pick up one of his books. With the woman in the house, he couldn’t keep an eye on the brown-haired girl in the neighboring house, like he usually did.

“You remind me of someone…” Tsubaki peered at him. Subaru froze, turning around slowly and arching an eyebrow. “The manner you move… The words you choose… You’re just like Tsubasa-chan’s friend from America.”

“America? I’m afraid I’ve never been there.” Subaru lied smoothly. Tsubaki just hummed absently, not really paying attention to the reply.

“He was Japanese through and through but they met when Tsubasa-chan was in America. I met him only once… After Daiki-kun was born but before Hoshi-chan was conceived. They were very close friends and I greatly disapproved it since they both were married at the time. When Hoshi-chan was born I demanded Tsubasa-chan to have paternity test made, just in case. I worried for nothing, thankfully but considering that on the year in between Tsubasa-chan hadn’t seen Lucas-san much…” Tsubaki sighed. “My apologies, I shouldn’t be airing my family’s dirty laundry like this… Even a mere reminder of that man just makes me lose my patience.”

“Why so? I do understand that allegations for infidelity are severe blow for family reputation but…” Subaru frowned.

“Because that man dragged Tsubasa-chan into investigating something that cost her life. Between the births of my grandchildren, Tsubasa-chan was doing unofficial investigation with him in America. In the aftermath, she admitted almost getting killed. I know she never left the case alone, even when losing contact with her friend. Kagemiya have the bad habit of chasing the truth and Tsubasa-chan chased hers so much that she left her children behind, dragged Tsukasa-kun and Lucas-san into it too and eventually died. And I know it happened while she was meeting with that man…”

Subaru’s thoughts wandered to the conversation Tsukiko and Shugo had had in this very room when finally reuniting.

_“When you called one of my phones as Hibiki, you said that this case was the reason Hoshi… I came to Tokyo.” Tsukiko pointed out. “But why I would have? From what I see from this and what people would have told Tsubaki-baachan, this was simply a manslaughter not a murder.”_

_“… I don’t know.” Shugo admitted. “I called Hoshi afterwards but she was already on her way to here. Whomever told her anything else, must have been there. Yamato knows something additional since he removed Tsubasa’s calendar from the rental car before the cops were called but he has refused to tell me anything yet and I haven’t found where he has hidden the calendar either. Personally, I haven’t seen Tsubasa for ten years. Maybe you will discover from your memory something more…”_

Subaru mulled over the facts that the woman ranted out. Kagemiya Tsubasa’s death was what had brought Tsukiko to Tokyo. Shugo had implied that it was the organization’s work. So the entire family was involved in digging out truths… Case between Shugo and Tsukiko’s births… They were eighteen and sixteen respectively so it was seventeen years ago… A case in America… the man already married… similar mannerisms…

“Say, what was the man’s name?”

“Tsubasa-chan always insisted calling him Tom-san and on the same breath said he was practically like family.”

_“What’s with the ‘Tsu’-starting names? They are quite prominent at parts.”_

“Tsu…tomu?” The pink-haired man breathed in shock. Tsubaki looked up.

“Possibly. He never outright introduced himself.” The woman cut the string she’d been using and folded the jacket neatly before standing up. “Thank you for the company, Okiya-san. I’ll call myself a taxi.”

“You’re quite welcome.” It was hard to keep his tone neutral after these few revelations but years of practice helped immensely. Subaru got on his feet to see the woman to the door.

“I suppose I don’t really need to say this but… Despite you giving me a bad taste in my mouth due this… resemblance, I’m inclined to trust you. If only because Tsukiko-chan trusts you and she has the true Kagemiya instincts to do so.”

“With the way you say instincts, I suppose the Midorikawa have something like it too.”

“Hmm… maybe. I do know that both my sister and I frequently had an ominous feeling right before something directly or indirectly related to us went wrong. Oyasumi nasai, Okiya-san.”

“Oyasumi nasai, Kagemiya-san.”

The door opened and closed when the woman left and Subaru let out a sigh of relief. And conveniently, right then he got an e-mail from Black. Something else to focus on for now…

* * *

 

Tsukiko blinked at the ceiling. Smell of antiseptic, beeping of the machines, the drip on her arm… Hospital. Again. She sighed. This was getting annoying.

“Ah, Tsukiko-chan!” Someone was immediately on her side. The image was a bit blurry but the shape of her hair was unmistakable.

“R-Ran…-san?” The younger girl rasped before coughing. Her throat was so dry.

“Wait a moment, I give you some water. And lift the upper end of the bed a bit.” There was whirr from somewhere under her when the bed tilted and brought Tsukiko slowly to semi-sitting position.

“Ookini…” Tsukiko whispered when Ran helped her drink. She still felt lethargic and didn’t feel like she’d be able to lift her arms yet.

“Should I inform others that you are awake?”

“Sure…” Maybe by the time people decided to visit, Tsukiko would be less tired and more alert.

* * *

 

“Huh? Conan-kun, you’re here all by yourself?” Ran asked the boy.

“Yeah, everyone else is coming by car. And Mai-neechan is stuck in the morning shift of Poirot so she, Namida-neechan and Amuro-no-niichan come later.” Conan replied. “But Sera-no-neechan is already on her way.”

“Sou… I was just about to go to the shop downstairs, want to come with me?”

“Nah, I’ll wait here.”

“Okay, let’s go, Sonoko!”

“Right! Tsukiko-chan, we’re heading out for a bit.” Sonoko told the younger girl.

“Sure. See ya.” Tsukiko replied and then waited until the two girls were gone and Conan in the view before speaking up again. “Ohayo-san, Kudou. Good to see you alright.” She smiled.

“Ohayo, Okiya. Thank you for saving me.” The boy smiled back though it was a bit sad smile. Sad but relieved.

“I was keeping my promises. The one to Ran-san and the other one to Akai-san.”

“Why… Why are you so concerned about that promise?”

“Because I already once failed to keep it. At the Mystery Train… if it had been any other member of the organization to capture Sera-san, she would’ve died since she identified the scarface as ‘Shuu-nii’. Just being associated with a traitor would’ve led to her death.” Tsukiko shook her head before looking resolutely forward. “So I won’t fail again. I care way too much about her and everyone else to let her be killed.”

“Ah…”

“Moreover, if Sera-san had jumped, there would’ve been no guarantee that I would’ve gotten her motorbike in control and safely stopped.” Well, Kage probably would’ve but back then there had been a radio silence on their part…

“Understood.”

“By the way, what have you and Sera-san figured out?”

“Your hint about master and student fighting to death helped.” Conan began explaining. “And according to Sera-san, the sniper was using a laser sight to target me and Murphy-san. On that vein, we figured out why Hunter faked a shootout instead of committing a suicide which would’ve closed the police investigation and made Waltz-san and Murphy-san relax their guard even more… It was a final test for the killer, making him a true cold-blooded sniper.”

“I see… So all the sniping ranges and methods were the graduating exams so to say…” Tsukiko mused.

“Yes. The first sniping was the maximum range for an MK11. The second was a moving target at night. And the third sniping was to check that no emotions could ever change his mind. Hunter was making his killer into the ultimate sniper, right up until his death.”

“So the sniper is either Scott Green or Kevin Yoshino.” Tsukiko concluded from the names mentioned in the first debriefing.

“Green was spotted in Kansai but Waltz-san has disappeared.”

“Waltz was most likely lured in Tokyo just like Murphy was… And Green is a decoy to divide the police attention.”

“That’s what we thought too…”

“Oi, we’ve come to visit!” Genta’s voice said from the door.

“Tch, Genta-kun, you’re being too loud…” Mitsuhiko protested.

“Hahahaa, sorry…”

“Ah, Conan-kun!” Ayumi greeted.

“What’s all that stuff you guys brought?” The bespectacled kid asked.

“Something really amazing!” Genta bragged.

“Hai!” Mitsuhiko agreed.

“We thought it might help cheer Tsukiko-neesan up. Right?” Ayumi smiled. The kids made their way to the room, Agasa and… Sera following them.

“Ohayo, Tsuki.” The tomboy greeted.

“Ohayo-san, Sumi-nee.” Tsukiko smiled in relief. It was so good to see her alright. Her and Conan both. “Conan-kun told me about your deductions.”

“He did? Good to hear your up to speed then.”

Ran and Sonoko arrived soon and at the side table the Detective boys were putting together their summer homework project. It was very well made.

“That’s brilliant!” Tsukiko praised the kids. “Especially the Bell Tree Tower must’ve required a lot of work.”

“You made that all by yourselves?” Sera asked them.

“Yeah!”

“It’s for our summer homework project!”

“It’s not exactly finished yet…”

“…but we wanted to show it to you!” The kids told them.

“Ookini!” Tsukiko smiled.

“It’s really great!” Sonoko agreed.

“Un, it’s very well-made.” Ran nodded.

“They may not be the same shapes as the real buildings, but they’re the same sizes and in the right places!” Mitsuhiko explained.

“Ai-chan checked all of them!” Ayumi added.

“Huh, you’ve done all that but it’s not finished yet?” Sera asked, listening to the children’s conversation.

“It looks good just like that.” Ran said.

“What’s left to do?” Sonoko asked.

“Well, to my eye… it looks a little bland…” Tsukiko mused, tilting her head. “Of course, I don’t know what the requirements for successfully completed first-grader summer homework are these days but…”

“We gotta still paint ‘em.” Genta stated.

“And Tsukiko-neesan is right. We only had a chance to take photos of the west side when we were at Bell Tree, so we don’t know what colors the rest should be.” Ayumi explained.

“We would’ve like to go up one more time before we start painting it, but well…” Mitsuhiko shrugged.

“Then why don’t we take another look?” Sonoko suggested. “It hasn’t reopened yet, but the repairs are all done, so you could have the whole tower to yourselves!”

While the children were celebrating the offer, Ran turned towards Sonoko with a frown.

“But, Sonoko, they haven’t caught the sniper yet, have they?”

“It’s fine! Do you really think he’d turn up at the same place twice? And even the TV said that it’s not actually a random killing spree after all!”

“They are right.” Sera said. “All people who’ve died, were targeted because of their connection to Hunter. The kids will be fine.”

“Huh? What is it, Conan-kun?” Ayumi asked the boy who’d approached the table with the thoughtful look on his face.

“Hey, make sure you help us paint it, you hear?” Mitsuhiko said sternly.

“What is it? Did you spot something, Conan?” Genta asked and crouched to the level to the table. “Huh? Wow, that’s interesting!”

“Huh? What is?”

“If you look at it from down here, it looks like some of the buildings we made are the same height!”

“Really?” Sera walked up to the table and sat down on the floor. Conan moved to the side where Genta was.

“Genta… Sorry, but can you show me?” Conan asked.

“Hoo… That’s right…” Sera mused.

“Especially these two buildings…”

Tsukiko smiled at the two detectives. Good to have them solve the dice code and the mystery of the locations. From the way Conan moved and Sera tilted her head and glanced at the boy, they got it.

“Ran-neechan! I’ve got to go, I forgot something!” Conan stated, getting up quickly.

“Hey! Conan-kun! Don’t you want to go to the Bell Tree?!” Ran asked the boy.

“Sera.” Tsukiko spoke up, deliberately dropping the honorific. The other girl looked up and made their way to Tsukiko while the others were distracted.

“What is it, Tsukiko?”

 **“Watch them for me. Conan-kun might be on the way to save Waltz but if he succeeds and the sniper’s location is at Bell Tree…”** Tsukiko spoke quietly in English.

 **“He will target anyone else in his way…”** Sera muttered.

**“Yes. I’m sure FBI is already coming up with countermeasures but if the others are at Bell Tree, it’s possible a hostage situation will occur, if only to secure an escape route. And Ran-san’s karate won’t be enough against an armed and determined SEAL.”**

Sera glanced at the kids who were packing their homework and Ran and Sonoko who were getting ready to leave.

**“Leave it to me.”**

**“Thank you. And you be careful too.”**

* * *

 

Soon after they left, Tsukiko received another group of visitors.

“Why are you so reckless?!” Mai said in lieu of an actual greeting.

“…If it hadn’t been me, it would’ve been Conan-kun or Sera-san.” Tsukiko stated. “And given the way some detectives focus on the case, they tend to ignore any possible consequences to themselves.”

“Still… It was such a scare when Takuya-nii called me in the middle of shift and told me that you’d been shot.” Mai slumped into one of the chairs.

“Good to see you awake and well, Tsukiko-san.” Namida said, taking the other seat.

“I’m glad to be okay too.” Tsukiko smiled. “Sorry for scaring you.”

“Well, it’s good we got to hear right away and not through the newsfeed.” Amuro stated from where he was uncovering a plate full of…

“Sandwiches! Amuro-san’s special ones?”

“Yes, I remembered that you haven’t gotten a chance to taste them yet and I’m sure you’d appreciate them compared to hospital food.”

“I really do. Thank you very much.” Tsukiko clapped her hands together as Amuro placed the plate on the tray attached to the bed and pushed it to her. Tsukiko took the first sandwich. She was hungry. “So… any new gossip? Other than the whole sniper situation?”

“Not really. It’s good that people aren’t panicking anymore though.” Mai shrugged. “But given the way the streets remained empty today, I would’ve liked for Poirot to be closed so I could’ve visited you earlier.”

“Demo, Miyoshi-san…” Namida sweatdropped.

“Have others visited you today?” Amuro asked then, taking a seat on the other side of the bed.

“Yes. Senpais were here with the kids just before you came… Tsubaki-baasan and Subaru-nii visited yesterday when I was still unconscious but couldn’t come today.”

“Huh, why?” Mai blinked.

“Well, Tsubaki-baasan called me and informed me that she was cleaning up uncle’s house. Apparently, she needs to destress before coming to see me again… And Subaru-nii is helping Conan-kun with the case…”

“The case… Don’t tell me they are working on the sniper case still?!”

Tsukiko sighed instead of shrugging so she wouldn’t aggravate her shoulder.

“Well, if the pattern holds, tonight will be another shooting. The FBI are working on it along with the division one since all involved are American citizens and they already happened to be in the country…”

At the statement, Amuro’s face did something funny but returned to an amicable smile then.

“You’ve been working on this since the beginning then?” The man asked.

“Yes. I pretty much know what’s going on. Sera-san and Conan-kun liked to bounce ideas around and I could offer another angle to things so we discussed things and shared information a lot. Would you like to know what’s been going on? Since I’ve not signed any non-disclosure agreements, I’m free to do so.”

“Please. This has been way too confusing. And even if Takuya-nii wouldn’t have been busy with the case, I doubt he would’ve told me.” Mai grumbled. Namida giggled to her palm and nodded then.

“I’m curious too.”

“Okay, do you have a map or something similar? This might take a while…”

* * *

 

Tsukiko was just illustrating them how the dice and sniping locations formed a star and how Bell Tree was most likely the next sniping point when her phone on the bedside table went off. Since she had a private room and no machines attached to her, she was allowed to have a phone.

The e-mail was from Sera.

 _Kevin Yoshino secured. He raved_  
_about a Silver Bullet shooting_  
 _him down. Everyone alive. Going_  
 _to fetch Conan-kun now._  
 _-Sera_

“The sniper has been caught.” Tsukiko said aloud. “Case closed.”

“Thank heavens…” Mai sighed. “I dearly hope you won’t get into trouble again anytime soon.”

“I’ll try my best.”

The three remained with her a bit longer before leaving. At the door, Amuro turned to address the girl again.

“Lately you’ve left me with more questions than answers. Would it possible to sit down and talk one day again?”

“Maybe… But as a detective, shouldn’t you try to figure out things first on your own? Zero-san?” Tsukiko smiled.

“Ah, I’m just an apprentice detective.” He smiled easily. “I’m not too sure I’d get that far in my investigations… Your grandmother has blocked quite many routes to you.”

“I know. She is protective like that. Especially consider whom we’re up against.”

Now there was confusion and suspicious on his face but it was gone soon.

“Oyasumi nasai, Tsukiko-san.”

“Oyasumi nasai, Zero-san.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I want to mention here right away. Tsubasa and Tsutomu did not have a sexual relationship despite what Tsubaki implied. They were very close friend but it sometimes translated into physical closeness which in the eyes of older person like Tsubaki was completely inappropriate since they both were already married.
> 
> SPOILERS TO THIS FIC AND RECENT MANGA CHAPTERS!!!!  
> There are going to be some changes to Kagemiya family and especially the situation with Scotch whom this far has been called Kagemiya Tsukasa or Midorikawa Hiromitsu. I wholly blame the recent manga chapters and my own insistence to adhere to canon. As you can guess from Tsubaki and Tsukiko's conversation, Morofushi Taka'aki is Tsubaki's younger sister's son. What I've planned is to have Hiromitsu Taka'aki's brother but went to Kagemiya after the death of their parents for a while before their paternal relatives in Tokyo took him in. Greater claim because paternal versus maternal or something...  
> This all just means I have to start editing any mentions and references to Tsukasa in my all over 100 chapters over all of this verse. Gaah. Because I also need to edit Takuya's one-shots since it's been known for a while that Rei, Date, Hiromitsu, Matsuda and Hagiwara were all on the same Police Academy class... I dunno the schedule in which I'll be doing these changes... but they won't be happening in FFN due the difficulty of making changes there. I will making this announcement there too about the changes in canon.


	4. Boku wa Kage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Crows fall. Shrunken sleuth finally pieces things together. The scientist makes her decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of everything else, I managed to write this chapter. I hope you enjoy. Next I'll try to write a chapter for LtRU.

**Chapter 4**

Kage knew many things. Some of those they got from Tsukiko’s memory when they were becoming who they were and eventually separating into a distinct personality different from Tsukiko. Stuff from Tsukiko included the whole archive of Detective Conan cases and random trivia the girl had spent time memorizing. Yes, Kage had and access to it but they did not consciously access it. If they (or that damn flirt) needed to know something specific, they usually asked Tsukiko to search it. It was her memory and her gathering of info after all. The nerd.

Some of those things were simply obtained in order to protect Tsukiko. Like shooting a gun or driving a car or stripping wires in order to hack or just simply moving stealthily. That knowledge was just there, absorbed from atmosphere or something. The flirt was similar in that sense. Tsukiko had never practiced gymnastics, yet Red Moon flipped and jumped like born to do them. Well, in a sense she was.

Some things in the other hand Kage got from Hoshi’s memories. Like the fact that Kagemiya Tsukasa was actually Tsukiko’s cousin – Morofushi Hiromitsu – and adopted to the main Kagemiya family before he’d been spirited to Tokyo. But Hoshi’s memories were a mess. Tsukiko didn’t know that little fact about her blood family.

Then there were things that Kage learnt on their own. Ways to handle different gun models. Ways to fight and incapacitate people. Ways to act in certain company. Things commonplace in school environment but what Kage and Tsukiko were lacking in knowledge.

All things considered, Tsukiko had done miraculously well when starting at Teitan High. Probably thanks to reading so much manga. And she could pass some inconsistencies in her behavior as being a hafu. Considering the girl’s blond hair back then, no one questioned it too much. But even when she adjusted, there was always a sort of removed point of view that remained between her and the rest of the class. Kage could see it even clearer than her.

It was especially the cute rubbish that was going on with the girls that irked them. Talking high or softly. Using third person when talking about themselves or others in same company present. Nakamori Aoko did this a lot. Tsukiko had done the third person about person present with Mai at some point but Kage couldn’t remember if she’d done it for a while. Then there were the cutesy actions that Hanajima Megumi and Toudou Yuuko both did (peppy and bitchy respectively) and they weren’t even natural at it like Maki Namida was. The ‘evil’ Maki twin didn’t thankfully bother with it. Miyoshi Mai in the other hand…

She was a kuudere. Possibly. Very prim and proper anyways. Disgustingly sappy with her boyfriend. Stereotypical overachiever though apparently got her priorities straight recently and figured out what mattered most in her life.

But Kage didn’t comment any of this aloud. Tsukiko was more sensitive to the feelings of others after all. And in need of sleep so Kage was in charge that day. And the following night. Sanjuu needed some back-up this time so they would provide.

* * *

 

Kage liked Sanjuu. Even though he was Tsukiko’s OC brought to life and his backstory superimposed on this world’s Plot. Though given that technically the entire Kagemiya-Midorikawa thing was non-canon as well Kage probably shouldn’t complain. Anyways, they liked Sanjuu – Kurosawa/Ishikawa Yamato. He was efficient in his work, whether it was one of his numerous part-time jobs or then killing people. He was the right kind of ruthless. Scared the victims but did not kill them messily or slowly. He didn’t revel in their suffering no matter how much he happened to despise them, like that woman in Gunma that had reminded him of Cordita, the codenamed bitch that had killed his parents. He also followed orders without question and if he questioned something, it was in order to improve the situation. Since he had way longer experience in espionage and assassination than the rest of the Hunters combined (Hibiki didn’t count because he was a hacker and weird), his concerns were valid.

Tonight Sanjuu needed some back-up though. The Hunters were targeting a NOC that was in turn charged with an assassination mission. And Chianti was as his backup. According to Hibiki’s information, the NOC was meant to lure the target close to the windows (target was short and thus headshot in the middle of a sea of people wasn’t possible) during a company party.

Sanjuu was in the party as waitstaff; Kage needed to occupy Chianti. Pity they couldn’t take the butterfly-eye out of the action permanently. Leaving her alive was a dangerous gamble but necessary one. It was show of force.

_Look, we can take down one of your best and leave them alive and still you can’t touch us._

* * *

 

Silently, Kage crept towards Chianti. Moon was shining bright in the night sky and spilling into the room through the open window. Kage had changed their shoes to a pair of jikatabi so the hidden heels wouldn’t hinder and make sound even accidentally. As soon as they were within an arm’s reach, Kage quickly jabbed the taser they had to the woman’s side. Had to give credit to her though, Chianti did notice their reflection in the moonlit window and was about to turn and attack them. Kage was faster though.

Chianti went down. Miraculously the rifle didn’t go off when she spasmed. Whops, probably should’ve taken that into an account. But they didn’t have time for physical confrontation.

With thick police-grade zipties binding the woman’s hands and feet, Kage took her sniper rifle and examined it. Good, it was a model they were familiar with and of correct caliber as well. The shadow dug into their pocket for a plastic bag and a bullet inside it. A tracer bullet.

Kage dropped the bullet on their palm and then lifted it up between their gloved fingers (this time full gloves and not fingerless ones). They grinned. Tsukiko watching Mythbusters back in her own world and then reviewing in this one was so worth it.

Because if a tracer bullet was shot from long enough distance for the oxygen to ignite the phosphorus on the bullet, it could light a gasoline in a tank (as proven in episode 38). Here the distance was not enough, but shooting it through a window should be enough to spark it. The curtains of the room were quite flammable fabric and even recently treated with ethanol to make them even more flammable. As they were next to cocktail table and had been aired carefully so they wouldn’t smell that strongly and people wouldn’t suspect anything. And as the punch was made of quite stern stuff…

Kage loaded the bullet in the chamber and lifted the rifle up against their shoulder. With their left hand they tapped the earpiece.

“Sanjuu, you in position?”

_“Yes. You ready?”_

“Aiming and waiting for your sign.”

_“Go for it.”_

“Roger that.” Kage took a careful breath and aimed. They squeezed the trigger gently and let go.

**_Bang!_ **

The bullet whizzed between the two buildings, broke through the window without anyone noticing and then went through the linen curtains. They caught fire immediately. Kage lowered Chianti’s rifle and carefully wiped it with a handkerchief dipped in bleach and stored in another plastic bag to get rid of any errant dna. Then they watched the chaos break out. People were screaming and rushing towards the exit. Thanks to Hibiki there was a bit of a lag with the sprinkles in order to induce panic but not much. The steam would act as a smoke screen for Yamato as well.

Yamato acted. Kage only noticed because they were looking for it. An ice pick from an ice bucket was buried to the neck of the NOC. In the chaos Yamato managed to slip away and with Hibiki in the cameras, there would be no footage of his exit.

Not to mention…

Blue lights were flashing in the distance already. Kage had called in a tip about the organization’s target about to be assassinated so the police were already on their way. Kage laid the rifle down and sent the usual email to the NOC’s cellphone. After closing the window, they left the place. Chianti would wake up in a few minutes and possibly get away from the police.

“All done, getting away now.”

_“I’m at my car as well. Good job, Kage.”_

* * *

 

Takuya looked around the scene. The Hunters had executed their mission well. They had foiled an assassination of Diet member Kurayoshi Honoka, who’d been invited to the party as quest speaker, and apparently taken out the would-be assassin, company employee Sugawa Naomichi. And prewarned the police before all that happened yet had managed to get away. Get away via arson and panic so that there were no reliable eyewitnesses for the actual murder that happened.

Takuya sighed gustily through his nose before starting towards the spot where the fire started from. Linen curtains in front of which the drink table was. The stench of alcohol was the most prominent there despite all the spilled drinks before and after the incident. There was almost nothing left of the curtains: the sprinkles had been too slow. Probably that was thanks to the hacker Hunters had.

“Anything out of the surveillance cameras yet?” Takuya asked Chiba who’d accompanied him to the scene.

“They stopped recording a minute before the fire and continued once the sprinklers were done.”

“So if anyone vanished during that time, it’s hard to say.” Takuya muttered, looking around the destroyed drink table. It was probably lucky that none of the curtains had fallen off into the punch bowl or it would’ve been much harder for the sprinklers to do their job. “Is Yuminaga-keibu coming here?”

While Takuya’s team had been first on the scene by virtue of the tipoff, his recent promotion and liaison with the PSB, he was still not a full inspector and he was specialized in murder, not arson. Thus, Yuminaga’s forensic team was better equipped to inspect the sprinklers for any further tampering. It would to no good to have them go off again and wash away whatever leftover evidence there was.

“I heard they were on their way.” Chiba replied but Takuya’s attention was already elsewhere. He pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and illuminated the wall before him. There was a strange hole in the stone wall. And it was fresh.

“Tome-san, I’d like to have a pair of pliers and tweezers.” Takuya called then to the head of the forensic team while pulling on gloves.

Tome’s daughter gave the requested tools to him and remained close with evidence bags of various sizes when Takuya crouched in front of the wall the burnt curtains had covered and tried first with tweezers and then with pliers to remove… a bullet from the wall. He dropped the bullet to a small bag that she sealed and tagged before looking to the right.

There was a bullet hole in the window.

“It appears we need to do some ballistics investigation as well.”

* * *

 

Killing Sugawa Naomichi wasn’t the only murder that happened that day. In Chiba, an emeritus professor had been found poisoned in his own home while his housekeeper, the one suspected of said poisoning was found tied up in her own apartment at the same time by her neighbor. At Hokkaido in the other hand, a young student with history of anxiety and depression committed a suicide. When police were working on his case, the email arrived.

Both cases were unique in signature that with professor, the message was in an opened letter at his desk while the student’s email was apologetic for their actions driving him to suicide as an escape rather than coming to finish him in person. The poor student hadn’t been scheduled to die just yet after all.

It was only a matter of time before there would be another meeting between the prefectures.

* * *

 

Takuya looked at the ballistics results. The bullet had been shot from the building opposite the crime scene. It was a tracer bullet that were quite common. It was classified as a bright tracer but as it had been dark outside and brightly lit inside, the windows would not have let the party guests see the trace the bullet left behind because of reflection.

The bullet itself was 51 caliber one and according to the rifle marks, the gun is was shot from was not registered. The same rifle marks had been found from bullets on other crime scenes though but there was nothing connecting those murders and sabotage accidents. The rifle was probably quickly sold forward or then belonged to a mercenary.

Takuya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The examination of the sniper’s nest had not given any hints either. There were some scuffle marks on the dust on the floor, like someone had laid down there and then tried to disturb them hastily before leaving.

It didn’t fit the timeline the Hunters’ actions had given though. When Takuya voiced the thought to Satou…

“Well, maybe that was the original sniper. The Hunters apparently had at least two people on the mission. One shooting the tracer and one killing the target. As the police only heard about the possible assassination of Kurayoshi Honoka, it’s possible that the people targeting her were two as well. One was Sugawa-san, one was the sniper. Hunters took both of them out of the way.”

“And the sniper possibly was one of the ‘Crows’ and hastily left when hearing the sirens. The one shooting the tracer had left as soon as the curtains were lit.” Takuya pondered.

“Possibly yes.”

“This is getting complicated. If Hunters have been killing all their targets thus far, why didn’t they kill the sniper as well.” Takuya groaned.

“Maybe not all of them kill.” Takagi suggested then. “You said once that there are at least four people part of the Hunters, right?”

“That has been concluded from the evidence. A hacker, a thug, a seducer and the leader.” The hacker dug the info of the targets and disrupted the security feeds. The thug did most of the killing, was male and did not have a set method. The seducer was a bit of a misnomer. Her targets had all been male though, with reputation of going for a pretty face. The two murders at Kyoto had been both in job application situations, the professor’s murder only few hours ago in Chiba had someone disguising as his pretty face housekeeper. Then there was the leader that sent the mails and decided to order of killing. While the phone from which the emails were sent from was never on after sending the mail, all the times there was enough to information to point to somewhere in Tokyo regardless of where the murder happened.

“Maybe the hacker or the leader was sniping then?” Satou guessed. “Thug killed Sugawa-san, Seducer Hariyama-san.”

“Leader was quickly informed by Hacker about that suicide in Hokkaido. While they did not personally kill that student, they were still keeping an eye on him, possibly even inducing paranoia and were thus quick to inform the police that he had been on their target list.” Takuya mused. “This is very annoying case.”

“Well said.”

* * *

 

Conan read from news paper about the recent murder. The Hunters of Crows had struck again, foiled an assassination, pre-warned the police and killed the killer. The boy frowned. It was like stealth mission gone wrong… purposefully botched that it would get a lot of attention. Diet member Kurayoshi Honoka was in police protection now and hopefully safe from further assassination attempts. She’d been trying to pass many bills and new laws lately that would improve import-export security and screening as well as give more resources to the police. People were divided over them. At one hand, very patriotic and security promoting. At the other hand, they’d need to increase taxing a bit for them to succeed.

Ideal target for the organization to take out as there were other disgruntled parties as well and thus many possible suspects. Like there had been in the case of Domon Yasuteru.

The boy’s phone rang. It was Hattori.

“Moshi, moshi?”

 _“Yo, Kudou!”_ The Detective of West chirped from the other end of the line.

“Morning, Hattori.” Conan grunted back, eyes still on the paper.

_“Redundant question, but did you see the news yet? About the Hunters’ latest assassination?”_

“Currently reading the case… I think they were aiming in making this public.”

_“You think so too?! Man, they really haven’t been subtle with their actions, have they? I mean… They did bomb that apartment with five people inside.”_

“Do you think there will be a police conference soon about all this? Like there was for Tanabata Kyo -case?”

_“Possibly. Oyaji is certainly intent on pushing for one if the glares at the paper are anything to go by.”_

“…” Conan bit his lip, pondering… hesitating if he should tell Hattori about his thought of the Hunters’ targets being Organization’s members. Maybe he should confirm with Haibara first if she had recognized any of the names. “Yeah, I hope ojisan will get invited so I can get more information.”

_“Good luck with that then! If conference does happen, do tell me what you find out! I’ll be stuck in Osaka.”_

“Sure, Hattori.”

The call ended soon after, with Hattori inviting them all to Osaka again so they could finally get some of that okonomiyaki. With that Conan got on his feet and with a quick yell at Ran that he was going to see professor – and she telling him not to stay too long since dinner would be ready in an hour – he was off.

* * *

 

Haibara was not impressed with him. The narrow gaze and tight mouth told Conan as much. The hands placed on her hips and professor’s nervous hovering on the background didn’t help matters either.

“It’s been months since Hunters took their first kill and you only know think to come to me about it.” The scientist stated flatly.

“Well, it wasn’t like there was enough clues at first… Even now it’s just a hypothesis…” Conan snapped right back.

“But it never hurts to ask, does it? Oh, wait, you simply can’t because it’s better to keep me out of the loop in everything. You just go off running on your own because you think I become a nervous wreck the moment Organization is even _mentioned_! Is that it?!”

“No! I just don’t want to worry you unnecessarily.”

“Like you didn’t want me to worry at Mystery Train and instead used me as a bait!”

“That time they actually were after you and I couldn’t have you turning yourself in to them! Like you tried at Halloween!”

“What about Tanabata then?! You went chasing after Irish because you wanted that NOC list! Vermouth deliberately baited you! You only had Tsukiko-san as your back up and back then you didn’t even trust her!”

“Ai-kun, Shinichi-kun! Please calm down!” Agasa intervened. “Nothing will be solved if you only attack each other.”

“So… what did you want to know this time?” Haibara asked then.

“The published names of the victims. Do you recognize any of them?” Conan sighed.

“…The two from yesterday. After Haido City Hotel I searched information on Pisco. The emeritus professor was his good friend… the student who suicided was oneechan’s friend and contact. Moreover, one of the people assassinated in Kyoto… Rajune Lucas – his company supplied us with ingredients for research.” Haibara looked asided but tilted her head back towards him again.

“So the Hunters are indeed going after people from Organization.”

“No doubt about it. What we need to know how they have the information. Wasn’t that NOC list destroyed when Irish was shot?”

“How do you know it’s that list specifically?” Conan narrowed his eyes.

“Please…” Haibara scoffed. “Unless someone went rogue and started killing people, they’d need to be really lucky for it going unnoticed this long. Organization had a system keeping people separate and unknown to each other. That’s why the NOC list was such a big thing that Irish and Vermouth were both working on retrieving it and there were other codenamed on standby.”

“So that list is the only one outside organization…” The shrunken sleuth assumed a thinking pose. “Irish had a memory card that he retrieved from inside the omamori. But before that the possessions of the victims were with Mizutani-san and before that with Honjou-san…”

“And in between?” The auburn-haired girl asked, as if she already knew the answer.

“The pouch was on the table… But there was no one else…”

“You are thinking too far. _Who_ else was there?”

“O-kiya…? But why? And how?”

“What I’ve heard of the situation… You were making the deductions while Tsukiko-san was standing back. She probably swapped the cards then before joining you. Irish took a fake.” Haibara crossed her arms. “As for how the assassinations are organized… She does know Kurosawa…”

“Kurosawa?” Conan frowned. He did not like the shiver Haibara let out at the name.

“You know him as Ishikawa Yamato. Both Tsukiko-san and Midorikawa know him. Ishikawa was recruited to Organization with his brother when he was just a child. They grew within but Ishikawa escaped then after killing a codenamed agent, Cordita. I heard from oneechan a month or so before that he was looking after a child she’d met. Midorikawa was that child.”

Conan was frozen. Midorikawa was his friend. He’d known the older boy since they were in first grade. Though he had left soon after that year, hadn’t he? Was he and Ishikawa running from the organization then? Midorikawa had mentioned going to Osaka where he’d met Eisuke for the first time before moving to Nagano. After the first Fuurinkazan incident they’d moved back to Osaka where he’d gone to middle school with Hattori until leaving early to start high school in Tokyo with his own age group. And even then he’d not come back to Beika…

“Are you thinking that Midorikawa and Okiya are planning assassinations with Ishikawa?”

“I don’t only think. I know they are. Tsukiko-san has the list and she is good at intelligence gathering, Midorikawa is a hacker who breached FBI’s firewalls last year because he was bored and created Night Baron for the same reason, Ishikawa is the living legend who has become the boogeyman for the organization rookies! What else could they be doing?”

* * *

 

When Kudou eventually left, Ai took a deep breath.

“I’m going downstairs.” She stated and left a dumbfounded Agasa in her wake. In the basement, she looked at the tabletop that still had Red Moon signature painted on it. She simply hadn’t had a heart to erase it away. Red Moon was just so full of life. A breath of fresh air so to say.

The scientist sat on her desk chair and powered up her computer. Then, after a moment of consideration, she opened one of the desk drawers. Inside it, underneath some fashion magazines, was a letter addressed to her – to Miyano Shiho – that contained a very formal invitation to Kagemiya-Midorikawa gathering. The signet on the wax seal was that of Kagemiya family and the envelope and invitation were both of very expensive paper.

Ai took the letter and opened it to read it once more. It explained her relation to Kagemiya family. Her father was born to former head of family’s sister. There was also a brief explanation of the ‘Kagemiya trait’ which… certainly explained now just what she could sense and why Midorikawa had been able to help her.

There was also a post-script mentioning that Midorikawa had most likely sought out Akemi and relayed this information to her as well… right before the day when she died.

The invitation contained a plus one but with a stipulation that they must be trusted and willing to share their own information as well. Ai snorted. She was definitely not taking Kudou with her then. The hypocrite. He trusted no one yet puppeteered them to his own whims. Agasa was probably his most trusted but the man did not question the boy at all. The adult Kudous stayed out of the way and the detective seemed to prefer it that way. Hattori popped in and out of the conversation but Kudou never seemed to voluntarily offer information about the conclusions of the investigation to him. Not even when vital info had come first from the Osakan. Then there was the FBI who probably should’ve for all intentions and purposes been more sensible yet they had the boy participating in operations and were afterwards left in the dark. Kudou had not told them anything about Bourbon even after he got his confirmation about his alias as Amuro Tooru.

Yes, Ai was currently feeling very uncharitable towards the boy. She needed to plan things very carefully though because the last time a letter had come addressed with both names, it had been a trap by Vermouth. If Ai asked professor for a ride to Kyoto, he would surely tell Kudou who in turn would probably pull Halloween on her.

But she had other acquaintances, hadn’t she? Ai pulled her phone from her pocket and made a call.

_“Hai, Midorikawa desu…”_

“Konnichiwa, itoko-san…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And hey, I have a discord as well. Come yell at me.
> 
> https://discord.gg/WPTJGuV


	5. Enter the Prince of Kicks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukiko finally gets to meet Kyougoku Makoto.  
> Shenanigans with Sera and Kid happen.  
> Uncle's house is also inspected and Kagemiya family secrets observed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took quite long to write... not the least because I included two cases into this. I hope you enjoy this anyways.

**Chapter 5**

It was raining. Pouring really. Tsukiko was glad they were inside and going to bowling was fun… but why did Sonoko need to drag them to Gunma to do it? Okay, they were originally going to play tennis but still…

They had fun though. Tsukiko hadn’t been to bowling that much but it was a good way to spend time with friends. Ran’s luck and talent was exceptional and Kogorou behaved exceptionally badly but… otherwise it was okay.

Tsukiko gladly chatted with her friends and ignored Conan’s suspicious glares. She’d heard from both Subaru and Shugo that Ai had finally fed up on the boy’s blindness when he came to ask questions and revealed to him that she and Yamato and Shugo were part of Hunters.

About the time really. Since finding out about her own amnesia, it was like a ball had been put rolling. She needed to still figure things out on her own but it was like a veil had been lifted on other characters as well. Subaru was supportive, Amuro was more curious and proactive about it, Conan finally pieced stuff together enough to stop dithering around… But now he was simply giving her suspicious glares and not approaching her voluntarily. And probably doing recap monologues in his mind. Honestly, the boy was so unsubtle.

“And? Who is the person you wanted me to meet?” Sera asked Sonoko.

“Ah, that’s…” Sonoko blushed. “Someone who was waiting in the pouring rain at the tennis court for four hours! That person is changing into dry clothes right now and will come then here.”

“Just tell me without holding anything back!”

“Well, they’re coming here on a bike in this rain!”

“Come to think of it… I haven’t met them either, have I?” Tsukiko asked her friends, pointedly ignoring the shadow approaching and looming over Sera. Hand descended on the tomboy’s shoulder. Sera took it as a challenge.

Fight.

And of course, Sonoko didn’t do anything to stop it so Ran had to step in.

“It’s _that_ person! The one Sonoko wanted you to meet!” The longhaired girl interrupted.

“My boyfriend, Kyogoku Makoto! This is my classmate, Sera Masumi-san!” Sonoko introduced the two. “And the one sitting on the bench like nothing could move her from her seat is my underclassman…”

“Kagemiya Tsukiko, yoroshiku.” Tsukiko got up on her feet and offered a hand to shake. She still hadn’t shaken that habit off…

“Yoroshiku…” Makoto took her hand but his attention was on Sera. “Y-You’re a girl… I thought you were some insolent guy who was getting overly friendly with Sonoko-san.” Well, at least he waited until letting go of her hand before addressing Sera.

“Don’t worry about it! I’m always being mistaken for a guy!” Sera smiled. Thank heavens she didn’t make a joke about her chest this time.

“Really Sonoko! You should’ve stopped them earlier!” Ran was scolding her best friend while Conan hands Makoto his fallen glasses.

“But I wanted to see those two fight!” Sonoko grinned.

“Jeet Kune Do… Who taught you that?” Makoto asks Sera then.

“My older brother! Well, my brother was three times stronger than I, though…” Sera replied.

“B-But, didn’t you say your older brother was dead?” Conan latched onto the information.

“Yeah… That’s what I heard…”

“B-But well, didn’t you talk on the phone with your brother the other day?”

“Ah, did you hear that? I have another one! My smart second-oldest brother. He resembles our father as opposed to my dead brother and I, so he doesn’t look like me. It seems that he’s in the middle of an important job right now and won’t even tell me where he is, but… He sometimes advises me on a case on the phone. During the case the other day he also told me that my deduction was unreliable but since you were there to come to the rescue if I was wrong…”

“Ah, not _me_ , but Shinichi-niisan!” Conan cried his protests.

Wow, info dump much? Anyways…

“When did this case happen?” Tsukiko asked the two.

“Ah, just few days ago. I was doing an investigation to a classmate of ours whose elder sister was getting married. I investigated her fiancée… Then a murder occurred.”

“I see.” So the adultery investigation case had probably happened around the time Kage had been in control and hunting with Yamato.

There was Makoto questioning Sonoko’s shirt… which could be taken either as ignorance over different styles of shirts or then subtle remark of his own disapproval. Who knew… And then there was the introduction of the case characters. Two high school teachers and a brief mention of a third one who Makoto had fought with… Three suspects and victim… now it was a waiting game.

* * *

Kogoro… was annoying. Tsukiko really wanted to just go and dump some water on him so he’d sober up. Ran might get upset though.

Meanwhile Makoto was destroying the bowling alley… accidentally. And case setting was about to be completed when he left to take a nap in Kogoro’s rental car and the case characters of the day were going to look for their missing friend. And sometime later they all were roped into searching for the P.E teacher as well.

About an hour or so later, one of the women, chemistry teacher and the culprit as well, ‘found’ the man.

“K-Kyaaaah!”

And they all came running.

“What happened?” Sobered Kogoro asked her.

“The door of the toilet was unlocked so I opened it… I-Inside… is Tanpa-sensei!”

Sera and Conan immediately inspected the corpse. Kogoro interestingly stayed back and only listened to the results… Where was the man taking charge and getting uninvolved people out of the scene that Tsukiko-as-Hoshi had seen in Kyoto?

“What? He was carried here after being drowned somewhere?!” Kogoro asked.

“Yes… Given the state of the livor mortis and rigor mortis, he was killed about an hour ago… Just about the time when we started looking for him and went to various drinking places…” Sera explained. “Which means that the culprit tossed the corpse into this toilet and escaped before we returned!”

“Th-That’s…”

“Who on earth?!”

“This teacher… he’s pretty strongly built. So it was either a repeat offender, or someone really strong.”

“Umm… Did something happen?” And here we had our third suspect. Scene break could be nice now. Though Tsukiko really didn’t want to deal with Yamamura… Well, one couldn’t win every time.

* * *

 _Inspector_ Yamamura fumbled around. Well, he reasonably questioned the two teachers but when getting Makoto’s statement… he arrested the Karateka immediately. Sonoko had her scene of heartfelt defense but ultimately until the CSI found stungun marks on the body, Makoto was kept in cuffs until Yamamura – to the man’s own disappointment – opened them.

Well, all in all Tsukiko opted to ignore the man’s blathering. When it started to rain and everyone hurried back inside, Sera and Conan lagged behind, Tsukiko remained with them.

“If you don’t go soon…” Sera began.

“Say, isn’t it a bit strange around the vents there?” Conan pointed at the vent at the back of the toilet. “It’s the only place where the rain drops don’t run down but form a sort of ring, right?”

“It’s a bit sticky.” Sera poked at the marks.

“Maybe something was affixed there.” Conan continued.

“Hey! You guys should also quickly go inside!” One of the CSIs told the teens while moving the corpse away.

“O-kay!” They chorused back before promptly turning back to inspecting the toilet.

“The rain drops are similarly repelled around the door…” Sera noted.

“But the same isn’t true for the vents at the bottom of the door.” Conan pointed. “And also… Didn’t you smell is when we first entered the toilet?”

“Yeah…”

“The smell of _kerosene_.” The two detectives said simultaneously.

“That’s seriously creepy.” Tsukiko remarked. “Let’s get inside. I’m cold.”

“Sure, sure.” Sera smiled.

“By the way… Would the usage of kerosene make the chemistry teacher prime suspect? At least likelier than English teacher…”

“Maybe.”

* * *

Yamamura and Kogoro basically brainstormed. Yamamura knew coming back to Makoto as a main suspect. Meanwhile Sera questioned the two teachers about the background of the victim. Everything about the planned marriage and then the fiancée’s suicide came to light. No need to interfere really.

Then came the kerosene realization. Conan rushed back outside. Sera and Tsukiko followed.

“Masumi-nee… Who are you messaging with?” Tsukiko asked when Sera took a photo of Conan discreetly.

“Ah, my brother. He is super smart I like to ask help from him with my deductions sometime… Mostly just using as a sounding board though.” The tomboy shrugged, smiling. “I still want my deductions to be _mine_ after all.”

“Ah, I see. Your brother must be really patient then if he has time for you whenever you need help. That’s wonderful.”

* * *

Masumi blinked at the sad face Tsukiko was making.

“Tsuki-chan? Is everything alright? With you and Subaru-san? Or with you and Shugo-kun?”

“Ah… It’s okay… Subaru-nii has entered a researching frenzy for one of his essays required at University while Shugo I haven’t seen since our trip to Kyoto to meet Tsubaki-basan.” Tsukiko shrugged.

“He didn’t even visit you at the hospital?” Masumi frowned. While she’d guessed that the relations between the two were estranged, she hadn’t imagined they’d be so distant from each other. After all, Masumi and Shuukichi got along quite well despite not having seen for years. Then again… They had only been apart for three years while Tsukiko and Shugo were for ten and even then, they’d kept constant contact. When it came to… Kagemiya siblings, they were basically strangers to each other. Even when they addressed each other, it was with mix of familiarity and distance. No honorifics from either, no indications or references to their shared blood.

_Like they weren’t siblings at all._

“Oh, he did. But he didn’t really linger. Shugo is working while studying. Some IT work and occasional help for Nakamori-keibu but that’s all I know.” Another shrug. “But it’s okay. We both need to adjust.”

“Alright…” Masumi was still skeptical but let it be. For now. She’d be busy with the deduction show soon anyways.

* * *

Case solved. Kogorou put to sleep but Conan and used as a speaker. Sera being the demonstrator with the murder trick and Yamamura being the test dummy. Chemistry teacher was the culprit and she confessed at the end of it. No struggle, no wails, no fights. It was passionate and angry explanation of the motive but then the woman just cried quietly.

It was the time to go home.

* * *

“I met Tsuki-chan again.” Masumi stated, slumping on one of the beds in the hotel room she shared with her mother, Mary.

“Again? Don’t you see her everyday at school?” Mary asked.

“Well yeah, but… After her trip to Kyoto to see her grandmother and then her hospitalization… It’s like she is completely new person. I suppose that’s because of her returning memory but…” The tomboy sighed. “I see new sides of her every time we meet outside school hours. She is now more like Hoshi-chan really.” Masumi grinned.

It was true. Thought it was difficult to compare Hoshi from the beach 10 years ago and Tsukiko now. But when Masumi had first met Tsukiko, the other girl had been… off. She’d been terribly familiar but at the same time, her eyes just skimmed past everyone, like there was a wall put between her and the rest of the world. She was all teasing and snark and unafraid of consequences. In a way her behavior was even more un-Japanese than Masumi’s even though she had presumably lived her entire life in Japan.

Then Tsukiko had heard of her own amnesia. Things started to slot in place. She pin-pointed Kyoto as her place of origin, her father as foreigner, her mother dead and having a blood brother aside from adoptive one. And at the same time Tsukiko began focusing on people around her more. Even if she took a step back from the spot light, she interacted more freely. Just like little Hoshi who had followed Shuichi around and asked questions and called Masumi’s hair pretty.

“Hoshi-chan?” Came the question, waking Masumi from her musings.

“Yeah… You remember that little girl with blonde hair? Liked to follow Shuu-nii around and called him Scary Face-niisan. Her mother thanked you afterwards for looking after her.”

“Ah… That girl.” Mary mused, coughing a bit.

“She was sad because her brothers are both busy.”

“Both?”

“Oh? Didn’t I tell you? The Okiya guy who lives in Kudou Shinichi’s house, is apparently her adoptive brother… Or more like a family friend that she considers a brother and that’s why apparently used his family name. Tsuki-chan’s memory is returning slowly but being around familiar people and places help her… So she is also sad that Shugo doesn’t have time for her so they could connect again. Since they haven’t met in years…”

“Aah…” Mary mused. Masumi rolled on her stomach.

“Speaking of which… Do you think we could meet with Kichi-nii at some point?”

“Maybe. But not quite yet.”

“…Okay.”

* * *

Tsukiko was lying on the sofa in the study of her uncle’s house. Tsubaki had vacuumed and dusted the entire place last week but Tsukiko would need to tidy up the place again… and get used to weekly cleanups once she moved in.

Everything was untouched in the house. The books were in the shelves and only some of them looked read. The electronics were all relatively knew considering that Tsukasa had died three years ago. There was an electric piano and a bass in the corner of the study. A laptop on the desk.

Even though Tsukasa was dead and had died during undercover mission, the house was… intact. It was like someone had simply forgotten to come home and the house still remained waiting for them.

This was no mausoleum like some other houses were after the deaths of their owners. It was simply… forgotten. And Kagemiya’s had made sure no one would get access to any sensitive information stored within.

“I like this place.” Tsukiko mused aloud, getting up and moving to downstairs. In the living room, there was a drawer set on top of which was series of framed photos. They were innocuous enough… just something Tsukasa had received from his family members. But… if someone got their hands on them, they could prove quite dangerous.

Like that photo from ten years ago. From the beach. Tsukiko could not precisely remember the moment it was taken but by watching it, she could recognize it had happened. In the picture was all the kids, posing. Shuichi was standing in the middle, holding his arms aloft and having four kids hanging from him, Shinichi and Ran on the left and Hoshi and Masumi on the right. Behind him was Shuukichi, leaning past his big brother and giving victory sign with a grin, and on the background Shugo. Everyone was smiling, even Shugo.

Tsukiko smiled nostalgically at the photo and then glanced the one next to it. It was the same than in her own room in Kyoto. Tsukasa and her sitting by the piano, playing it with soft smiles and completely immersed in their own little world.

Kagemiya sisters, Tsubasa and Tsubame, pictured in front of the Kyoto house, dressed in school uniforms, middle school and high school respectively. Probably right on the first day of the school semester.

Tsubasa and Lucas. Wedding picture. Western style. Tsukiko recognized the Temppeliaukio Church around them. On both sides of them were Tsukiko’s grandparents.

Another photo from the wedding, this time with all the guests. And oh look, even Tsukasa was there with his brother and their parents.

There was a Police Academy graduation photo: Tsukasa, Rei, Matsuda, Hagiwara, Date. And Miyoshi Takuya with them though without a diploma.

“Morofushi Hiromitsu… Kagemiya Tsukasa… Scotch.” Tsukiko mused. The same person really. But now this contradicted the family information Shugo and Tsubaki had given to her. She needed to investigate further. The diploma on the wall of Kyoto house had read Midorikawa Hiromitsu so they were probably related through Tsubaki… So maybe it wasn’t such a mystery after all. Kagemiya had their ways. And as long as Tsukiko was amnesiac she wouldn’t be given straight answers. She needed to find out things herself. Tsukasa may not have had Kagemiya blood but he was still family. He was given the name for a reason and he had been privy to family secrets.

“The name of his Kage… You don’t need any supernatural personality separation in order to cope with stressful situations…” Tsukiko dug out her phone and opened the voicemail log.

**S-C-O-T-C-H**

_Open… Please wait…_

All the voicemails were there. Neatly in folders. There were many. Most of them were from the same number except for the last one.

“I’m going to need some time to go through all these.” And right when she was about to open the first mail, her phone began ringing.

“Moshi, moshi?”

 _“Tsuki-chan!”_ Came the cheerful greeting of her friend and sort of mentor as well.

“Kaito… What’s up?”

_“I’m planning a heist. Suzuki Jirokichi’s newest find, the Green Emperor. Do you want in?”_

“Sure. Anything specific you need me doing?”

_“Well, for starters you could come over so we can go through everything we do know thus far. And then we can plan further.”_

Tsukiko glanced at a wall clock. It was late but…

“How about tomorrow after school? I don’t have anything planned so…”

_“Yeah, sure. I gotta do some poking around anyways.”_

Tsukiko hung up and headed towards the kitchen. Some evening snack would be appropriate. And she probably should eventually inform Jodie about her intentions to move out of the woman’s guestroom.

* * *

Next day… Tsukiko made casual conversations with her friends at school. Kid had not announced his heist intention quite yet but would probably do it by this night. Sonoko was gushing over Makoto and apparently intending to introduce him to her parents tonight as well. Things were looking good.

After school, Tsukiko decided to finally talk with Jodie about moving out.

“Your uncle’s house?” Jodie repeated after the explanation.

“Yes, it’s a bit further away from school but I really like the place. As it’s Kagemiya owned property, I don’t even need to worry about the bills or rent.” Tsukiko flashed a wry smile. “And I think it’s about the time I stop lurking about here.”

“If you say so… I haven’t minded you being here. You are nice company and can look after yourself quite well.” It was true. Tsukiko had been always ready to help with cleaning and cooking so it wasn’t like she had completely freeloaded at the apartment.

“But at the same time, you can’t really work from here with me here, right?” The girl pointed out. Most of the time Jodie was out with her fellow agents, mostly Camel, doing some investigative work even up to late at night. She rarely made work-related phone calls from home or even used her computer. Simply because Tsukiko was at home. It had become especially clear after the revelation of Tsukiko’s amnesia and the plethora of lies she’d told Jodie and everyone else in the wake of it.

“Well, that’s true too.” The agent admitted. “When have you thought about moving.”

“Sometime next week. The house is ready, I just need to have records at school straightened out and pack my things here.”

“I can help you with getting your things to your new home. That way I’ll know how to reach you if something happens in the future.”

“I appreciate that.”

A way to still keep tabs on her to some degree. Frankly, Tsukiko couldn’t wait to be out of the apartment.

* * *

The news blared the Heist Announcement. Kaito giggled over the phone about the new “security system” that Jirokichi had gotten before going to pay a visit to the heiress herself. Tsukiko tagged along. It would be nice to be dressed as Red Moon in non-heist situation for a change.

 _“You said it. This is why I also like substituting you, Tsuki-chan.”_ RM giggled. _“It’s so refreshing to be out there without a mask.”_

Tsukiko adjusted her fedora and fixed her glasses before settling comfortably on the roof to keep watch while Kid conversed with Sonoko.

“Konbanwa, ojou-san.”

“K-Kaitou Kid?! Wh-What are you doing here?”

“I merely stopped by to stretch my tired wings… And, though it would be no more than the icing on the cake… Might I also persuade you to make a bet with me?” How smooth, how eloquent… How irritating. Kid managed to arrive just by gliding in, while Tsukiko had to scale the wall of the building in order to perch up there.

“A _bet_?”

“Yes, your boyfriend is the one guarding the jewel, thus undoubtedly, the only one he won’t eye with suspicion will be your visage… So shall we see… with your permission, I will disguise as you, ojou-san, and we shall see if he can tell us apart.” Kid smirked.

“O…Okay! That bet, I’ll take it on, but… Don’t hurt him, alright? Makoto-san… He’s got a really big tournament coming up next week…”

“Oi, Kid-sensei… We’ve got incoming!” Tsukiko interrupted.

“Who’s that!?” A security guy shouted from below.

“Ka… Kaitou Kid!?” Another gasped.

“It seems as though you won’t be able to keep this visit of mine a secret, so make up some reasonable lies for your friends. Especially that little boy with glasses…” Kid whispered to the heiress before climbing up to the roof and jumping in the air, spreading his wings once more. With the white glider attracting attention away from Tsukiko, she managed and drop down on the balcony railing.

“What Kid-sensei managed to forget to mention, is that I’ll be there to keep and eye on things and guide you to exchange point.” She stated dryly.

“Red Moon-san…”

“And no worries, I have my own way in already.” She smiled, tilting her hat and jumping down to the ground. All the guards were chasing after kid, leaving the yard empty. And thus allowed Tsukiko easily to scale the outer fence and disappear to the bustling night crowd.

* * *

And indeed, Tsukiko did have her own way to the museum. After all, she was invited by Sonoko after school to see Makoto guarding the jewel at the Grand Suzuki Museum. Just how many museums did Jirokichi own…

Oh well, while Jirokichi and Nakamori were arguing about the fact that Makoto was already guarding the jewel and the disadvanges of having a high schooler to act as the security system instead of Kaitou Kid Taskforce, Suzuki Tomoko arrived.

“What’s more, I have a secret plan… Kid’s favourite stunt is posing as someone close to us… using his disguise technique to approach the targeted jewel… Like when he impersonated my husband…”

“That was only because I fell for that phone call…” Suzuki Shirou chuckled in embarrassment.

“The two of you have also experienced that quite often, haven’t you?” Tomoko addressed Jirokichi and Nakamori.

“Y-Yes…” Jirokichi gritted.

“That’s why we pinch people’s cheeks like this from time to time…” Nakamori agreed as the two men pinched each other’s cheeks.

“That may be acceptable for you gentlemen, however…” Tomoko pinched her husband’s cheek. “Doing something so boorish to a woman is rather a different matter in my opinion. That’s why I prepared… This western dress, the only one of its kind in the world specially ordered from a Parisian designer, and it only arrived today!”

It was quite the fancy dress indeed. Rich and their toys and joys… Well, Tomoko had money to spend and this probably wasn’t the first time she ordered a dress from Europe like snapping her fingers.

There was then the short episode of the letter with invisible ink addressed to Makoto before the girls, including Tsukiko were ushered to change.

* * *

The dresses were… revealing. Very flattering them all but… Short hems, barely any coverage above cleavage… And…

“Suzuki-san… Is there something that would cover my shoulders…? Or at least my left one?” Tsukiko asked Tomoko. Sonoko had already take her canon, cream colored dress with longer hem that would allow Kid to disguise his height. And it had conventionally had a wrap covering the left shoulder. Meanwhile Ran had picked the ‘most conservative one’ in dark blue and white which was cute but even more revealing than Sonoko’s….

“May I ask why?” Tomoko asked, eye brows arched in silent enquiry. Of course, dithering like this was suspicious. But Tsukiko needed to buy time and distract Tomoko while Sonoko was ‘changing’ into the dress in the bathroom.

“I have a bullet wound… It… I know it could tell me apart from Kaitou Kid and Red Moon but I rather to parade it around.” Tsukiko looked at the ground, her right hand protectively covering her left shoulder.

“I think there’s something…” The woman hummed and went to take a look at the remaining three dresses. There was then picked a deep burgundy dress with Queen Anne neckline. Overall not that bad… except for the slit on the side. Well, it was only for one night – only for few hours – Tsukiko could endure.

She changed to the dress at the bathroom, making sure to have her bullet wound covered, and then joined her friends, Ran and the Kid-Sonoko. Together, they headed back to the exhibition room where Makoto was reading through letters written in invisible ink.

“Makoto-san! I’m dressed like this now, so don’t you forget it!” Kid-Sonoko was naturally drawing attention to her dress rather than other aspects of her appearance… Well, really Sonoko had already had her moment when she’d wished luck for the champion. She really wanted to take part on the bet and really wanted for Makoto to win so…

It was five minutes before announced time… Kid-Sonoko disappeared. Tsukiko also slipped away.

There was a blackout. Kid made his move.

* * *

There was a mic rigged in the exhibition room. As there wasn’t really any need for Red Moon to announce their presence in the premises, Tsukiko could hang back and listen in on the proceedings while keeping company to real Sonoko.

“How is it going?” The brunette asked, wrapped in the blanked Tsukiko had provided (under the guise of RM of course).

“Not bad on the either part… Kyougoku-san realized that Kid wasn’t you but Tantei-kun blew apart the reasoning on Kid’s movements before the attempt on stealing the jewel… And now something is crumbling in the room…” Tsukiko relayed and then frowned. “What an earth… That’s straight out of Shounen-anime action!”

“What? What’s happening?” Sonoko demanded, practically throwing herself against the locked backroom stall door.

“According to Kid-sensei, Kyougoku-san just kicked pillars in a manner to collapse in order to make a rudimentary catapult for himself… And he is out of the skylight…” Tsukiko deadpanned, making sure to stick to RM’s way of addressing people. “Okay, that’s sweet…” She then pressed the speaker button.

_“Now then… I would like to have them back. Both the jewel and Sonoko-san’s **heart** …”_

_“Of course. It wasn’t what I was looking for so I will be able to return the jewel, but the ojou-san’s heart is a different matter entirely.”_

_“WHAT!?”_

_“You say return, but it wasn’t even stolen in the first place. Not at the point when I offered the terms of this bet… when she requested not to hurt you for your upcoming tournament and I asked her to come up with a lie to cover up our cooperation… But unfortunately, even though I’ve still ended up giving you a few scrapes and bruises… that ojou-san… completely and utterly won thei bet!”_

“That… ah…” Sonoko blushed in the dark when hearing the interactions of the two men she admired so much.

“You are very lucky girl, Suzuki-san… Now excuse me, I need to go. Do remember what Kid-sensei told you to tell your uncle and Nakamori-keibusan….” Tsukiko got up from her seat.

“Ah… Red Moon-san… What about Tsukiko-chan? Where is she?”

“…I’ve pretended to be her since the beginning of her day. She should still be at her uncle’s house.”

“Okay… Good to know.”

“Sayonara, Suzuki-san.”

* * *

Sonoko was discovered in the toilet after Tsukiko tipped off the people present. She then quietly slipped away in the resulting chaos, channeling Red Moon’s skillset in quick exchange of clothes and sneaking away. It was late.

* * *

Next day the burgundy dress was mailed back to the Suzuki residence, neatly folded after going through careful wash and ironing. With it came a note card from Red Moon which thanked Suzuki Tomoko for allowing her to borrow such a beautiful dress even if it would’ve been a bit too adult for Tsukiko to wear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a lot of inspiration to Tsukasa/Hiromitsu's house from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv6SbFlZMbU. I think I might nix the last floor from it or something. Haven't decided fully yet.
> 
> On the other news, some of you might've gone through the artwork I've drawn and published as a separate 'fic', especially Tsukiko's outfits. Would you like me to add singular pictures of Tsukiko's outfits in the relevant chapters of the main fics as well?
> 
> And as always: you're welcome to my discord channel: https://discord.gg/WPTJGuV


	6. Moving in and moving on

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukiko moves and discovers family secrets, Mai, Jodie, Rei and Conan ponder the girl and her situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References so much stuff... Especially Takuya one-shots that I wrote last autumn. I recommend reading them.
> 
> Also references Dream or Not chapters 11, 43, 54-56, 65 and many, many others.

**Chapter 6**

Tsukiko closed the suitcase full of her own clothes and sighed. Packing away everything accumulated during the past few months was surprisingly hard. Most of it was clothes though so they were easy to pack.

She had been continuing cleaning the apartment in the past week and it was finally well enough to actually live in. Necessities were packed into cabinets and all it needed anymore was Tsukiko’s personal effects. Clothes, souvenirs, schoolbooks and other stuff she’d managed to collect.

Clothes fit into the two suitcases that she’d found at Tsukasa’s – Hiromitsu’s – house and the rest fit into three boxes. Jodie had gotten Black’s car for the day so she helped Tsukiko to get everything to the house.

“I’m going to miss you, Tsukiko-chan. If we happen to run to each other, don’t be a stranger though.” The American smiled.

“I won’t.” Tsukiko grinned back. “Unless you are in the middle of a shadowing operation.”

“Good point.” Jodie chuckled. “And you have my number in the case you just want to chat.”

“Yes. Here is the extra key I used.” Tsukiko gave Jodie back the apartment key she’d been given first week in at the woman’s apartment. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to me, Jodie-san.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two females embraced each other briefly before the older one returned to the car and the younger one closed the door and looked down on the boxes in the hallway. Tsukiko let out a sigh. Now unpacking then. And she should put some dishes to wash in the meanwhile.

* * *

 

It was strange to live on her own. While Tsukiko really liked her own space and the apartment was wonderful to live in, it was still… strange to be alone. She now had to take responsibility of an entire house in the terms of upkeep and manage entirely her own groceries. With Jodie they’d split duties occasionally and negotiated what to do on which day. And what Tsukiko could glean from Japanese culture as well as Hoshi’s impressions on things, Tsubaki had still largely managed the house even though Hoshi had been helping her with the upkeep. Tsubaki had made the decisions and Hoshi had made sure those decisions would come to fruition.

School had not batted an eye on the change of address and neither had Beika administration office. The name plate outside the house still read Kagemiya after all. Tsukiko friends had asked stuff a bit but been satisfied after she informed them of being welcome to visit once she’d settled down.

Tsukiko frowned when she turned the omelet. She was pretty good at making western style food even though markets lacked some ingredients but she probably should learn how to make Japanese style as well… Maybe she could ask Ran for cooking lessons. While Subaru was moderately good, he wasn’t that good at explaining the steps.

* * *

 

 _“Ah, you couldn’t answer… That’s okay Tsukiko-chan, I’ll just leave message for you to listen to later…”_ Thus begun the first voicemail. Tsukiko barely held back tears as she listened to Hiromitsu’s voice. But she held back. She needed to concentrate and take notes on anything important mentioned. After all, according to the flashback about the Shinkasen bombing, PSB was very curious about the contents of her voicemails.

The first five voicemails were short and sweet. No secrets in there. But in the next ones there started to be… places, names, times… Some of it was outdated and Hiromitsu had no doubt given the info to his superiors as well but… Everything she heard was so very dangerous.

And at first Tsukiko hadn’t paid much attention to the dates of the voicemails but…

“There is a contradiction…” She realized as she opened the fourteenth one. It was from September alright… but from the year before Hiromitsu’s death. “I thought Hoshi met him first time at her 13th birthday and voicemails came after then until his death…”

But no, they’d apparently started in July of the year before and… ended in March of the next year. The year of his supposed death.

“So from July to March there are voicemails… April 13th Hoshi meets him on her birthday. Then there are phonecalls and visits until October… And in November nothing. Finally, Tsubasa comes to Kyoto with news of Tsukasa’s death…” An impossible thought crept to Tsukiko’s mind as she finished the timeline according to what she remembered.

_Was he alive after all?_

With shaking fingers Tsukiko opened the last voicemail that had come from different number than the rest yet had been logged behind the password after all. It was dated last winter.

 _“Hisashiburi, Tsukiko-chan… It’s been a while. I’m in Kyoto as I call. My friend advised me to leave you a message just in case you figure things out and realize not everything is as it seems.”_ The voice was the same than in previous messages though accent and choice of words differed. Amusingly, it almost sounded like Morofushi Taka’aki had decided to use Kyoto-ben. _“I’m alive, Tsukiko-chan. My friend arrived in time and with the help of his colleague and Tsubaki-basan’s contacts, they managed to conceal my survival even from my employers. I met you after first stages of rehabilitation. Surviving and healing from a bullet wound isn’t easy but you gave me strength to go through it. Our contact broke in between October and November when I was finalizing my joining to Kyoto Prefectural Police under the name Miyagawa Sakuya and afterwards with the death of my other friend. Do you remember him? Matsuda Jinpei, whose Timing you predicted when we graduated. -”_

Timing? Something to ask Tsubaki about probably…

 _“- You predicted Timing for all three… Hagiwara, Matsuda, Date… And were right though I sincerely wish you hadn’t. But Kagemiya can’t help their nature so I do not blame you for this. Anyways…”_ There was a sigh. _“I’m sorry I’ve let you believe I was dead. But then again, I’ve let Zero in this belief as well. I regret that fact even though I don’t regret leaving PSB like this.”_

Ah… So canon grudge from Furuya towards Akai still held. Now Tsukiko just needed to find out who was the friend saving Hiromitsu if it wasn’t Furuya…

_“I hope to one day see you again. And I dearly hope you aren’t endangering yourself despite holding onto these voicemails. I still continue working towards dismantling the organization even though I’m not inside it anymore and have to be even more discreet. But I got the Kagemiya backing and I’m sure with time we can get through this… Call me when you are ready, Tsukiko-chan.”_

The message ended. Tsukiko lowered her phone. Tears were falling freely from her eyes and she was biting her lip to muffle her sobs.

He was alive. Her uncle-cousin-whatever… Tsukasa was alive. He was Scotch and he was alive after all. Tsukiko was so happy. She was so damn happy and relieved to hear he was alive. But all the same, she was not ready to call him back either. Instead… she probably should call Tsubaki about this matter. And maybe ask who was Tsukasa’s friend that had helped him.

Tomorrow though. She needed to process this first.

* * *

 

Mai liked Tsukiko. She really did. Had liked her ever since they’d talked for the first time when the new girl had noted how fake Hanajima was and how ridiculously stereotypical their entire class was. Tsukiko had straightforwardness that was lacking from many other girl’s that Mai knew. But maybe that was a cultural thing in the end. Tsukiko was half-European after all.

But there had always been a bit of a tension in the other girl which bled into her behavioral tics. Like the insistence to use glasses just so she would look more like her ‘adoptive brother’ who apparently wasn’t adoptive after all but a family friend. Then there was the… submissiveness to go along with Suzuki and Sera’s schemes with hair dyeing even though she was obviously uncomfortable with the entire fact until she adjusted to the change month later and afterwards kept dying the roots of her hair.

Tsukiko seemed to have calmed down and relaxed now though. It had begun at the shrine visit when she met with another family friend, Ishikawa Yamato, and referenced being from Kyoto even though her expression told of her uncertainty. Then came the amnesia diagnosis. And the appearance of Midorikawa Shugo (or was it Kagemiya Daiki after all?) who was apparently Tsukiko’s blood brother that she hadn’t seen in ten years. Mai wasn’t sure about the facts as she hadn’t been present at the reunion… But with whatever Tsukiko discussed with the older boy and whatever she found out when visiting Kyoto, it all seemed to have lifted a weight from her shoulders. She didn’t need to hold onto half-strangers like Saintemillion and Okiya and others in order to have a place. She had family now and contacts and even a place to stay.

The Kagemiya family was a big responsibility though and Mai guessed that Tsukiko would start managing some part of it in next few years before taking over as it seemed that Shugo had stayed away from the family for the past ten years of absence. But at the same time it suited Tsukiko. She had sureness in her actions that was missing from before when she just floated through days and made snarky remarks like she was an observer to it all. Now though… Now she thought more carefully. Paid attention to lessons properly and took note of cultural ticks she’d forgotten.

Mai was glad for her. Tsukiko was finding her own place.

* * *

 

Jodie was worried for Tsukiko. Don’t get her wrong, she was glad the girl had found her family but at the same time she was worried for the amount of lies Tsukiko had resorted to in order to remain under radar. In retrospect it was strange how she’d inserted herself to the operation against organization but the whole situation around her had been unconventional and it had been better to keep an eye on her just in case. Especially with her own declaration of seeing the Organization as an enemy even if the given reason was vague. But then things just had escalated. With Jodie offering a place to stay, then the complicated story about her brother’s moving habits, then her general involvement with cases around Beika and outside as well and couple of more hospital visits for her.

And in a sense Jodie should be relieved that Tsukiko had more people to watch her back but… it still made her uneasy. There were just so many loose ends that bothered her. Whether it was the way Tsukiko kept organization related information from Jodie or then the blasé way she regarded Shuu’s death and vehement denial of his possible survival… Yes, Jodie knew now thanks to Conan that it had been Bourbon in disguise, seeing her and Camel’s reactions but still… Tsukiko had gotten along well with Shuu, what little she had interacted with him. There was something in her eyes that told she trusted him over other agents gathered… so why was she so unbothered by his death?

_“Bakai wa Bakai. Even if it’s him, at least he knew to expect this all. Or at least I hope so…"_

_“So you are saying he knew he’d be killed?! Are you?!”_

_“Why not? He’s bloody smart and apparently worked within the Organization for years. Of course he knew getting killed was a possibility. I’m not saying it was the only one but…”_

_“Don’t say it ever again! Never!”_

It had been a rough beginning. And one topic that always led to an argument. Especially after what happened in Touto Department Store.

_“Tsukiko-chan… why you are so strongly against the idea of Shuu being alive?”_

_“I’m not against it. I simply see it impossible that he’d be walking around just like that and thus endangering Rena-san. What I understood is that… You saw him during the robbery and concluded that he had amnesia. But don’t you think that even then he’d stay more hidden, subconsciously protecting what he was ready to sacrifice his life for. And now you think he has his memory back… Wouldn’t in that situation he has even more reason to hide? Especially when he left you the message that the department store was a dangerous place. Why would he walk into a trap he obviously foresaw?”_

_“But what if…”_

_“Use your own common sense, Jodie! It isn’t like his behavior and you know it too. You just refuse to believe it! You refuse to accept that he isn’t coming back!”_

_“But the message on the coaster was on his handwriting! And who else would it be then?”_

_“I know nothing about the message since I have never seen Akai-san’s handwriting and not even this message you mentioned. About this… Ghost you’re chasing after… I suspect it’s one from the Organization trying to figure out if there was something fishy in Akai-san’s death. Someone not believing that he’s ready to sacrifice everything by walking into a carefully crafted trap.”_

_“You saw him in the floor with the bomber, didn’t you?”_

_“And what if I saw? Maybe I wanted to protect you. You ran straight into the ambush after that fake. Did you even consider that it would be all trap? Not for him but for you or any other FBI agent.”_

_“Fine… Be that way then. I’m going to find him anyways and get the truth out of him. If it’s Shuu, he shall tell me what exactly happened and if it’s someone from the organization, I’ll make him spit why he’s been walking around disguised as Shuu!”_

_“Good that this matter has been solved. I rather not discuss about this again… Since our opinions differ so much.”_

_“Yes, I completely agree with that. But tell me, what makes you so strongly against even the possibility that Shuu is alive? I remember that you got along with him even back at the hospital surprisingly well.”_

_“I’m merely using ice cold logic to this situation while you throw yourself into danger without looking around properly. If it appears that Akai-san is indeed alive, of course I’ll be happy. He was a good ally after all.”_

So it worried Jodie. Tsukiko had friends but there had been a certain uncertainty in her actions for a long time. She knew a lot of what was going around her but bottled the information and remained mum about it.

_“Hmh… Bakai, tell that Scar-face to stop wandering around…”_

Now, Tsukiko had family at her back but she had always moved out of Jodie’s apartment. She was alone now. Was she used to being alone? How would she cope? Was she in danger after all with everything she knew and had experienced?

But Jodie held no authority over the girl anymore. She wasn’t required to look after Tsukiko and the girl was not obligated to inform her of anything anymore.

“I wouldn’t have minded you staying, Tsukiko-chan… You didn’t need to escape us. Just keep your eyes open now and be careful… Especially with Bourbon around.” Jodie sighed.

* * *

 

Rei had always had a sense of familiarity when it came to Okiya Tsukiko. But he had dismissed it in favor of keeping an eye on Mouri Kogoro and Edogawa Conan. He had just placed her in the box with the boy’s other allies and only noted her familiarity with the FBI woman.

They had met for the first time when he was disguised as Akai for the first time. She had recognized him but not reacted with anything but something akin to surprise. Had not approached him, had not questioned his presence… Rei had dismissed her… until she called the FBI woman by name. Until she threatened the bank robber with a metal tube. But it hadn’t been that special. Maybe she was intern for FBI, keeping an eye on Teitan High school now that Vermouth and the FBI woman were gone. That would explain why she recognized Akai even if she’d been kept out of loop regarding his death. She probably had been instructed not to approach the man while in Japan as the man had been one of FBI’s best. She’d even had blond hair to match the other Americans.

Then was Teito Department store. They bumped to each other. She had been Kage and distracted Chianti, giving him the seconds needed to escape. Mysterious and annoying back then. But not yet connected to the girl.

They finally met face to face at Restaurante Sundayrino. Rei didn’t connect Tsukiko to the girl from bank robbery. She had black hair and wholly unimpressed by everyone’s insistence that Banba Raita was the culprit. The look she gave at Rei when rebuking his claims was achingly familiar. He dismissed it. He needed to get closer to Mouri Kogorou after all in order to proceed in his investigation. Though the expert way she had solved the case did deserve an extra note of respect.

Kidnapping of Conan. Rei found out that Tsukiko knew Vermouth.

 _“Let’s just say that I’ve **zero** intention of cooperating with her, no matter what she happens to think.”_ It had been dangerous thing to say to him. But in retrospect and with information Rei now had… She had trusted him. Even without memories she’d trusted him. It humbled him a bit. She was Hiro’s cousin and last time they’d met was eight years ago. But even when she knew only his false name and the fact that he was connected to Vermouth… She trusted him and continued to glue herself at his side in the continuing months. Tsukiko was at ease with him while they were alone and had even admonished Conan for panicking about his presence when they met up for tennis game after the events of Mystery Train.

Then came the amnesia diagnosis and Hibiki baiting Tsukiko with information about Kagemiya Michiko.  Rei hadn’t said much back then because he couldn’t be sure that they were the same Kagemiya than who were Hiromitsu’s aunt’s family.

But then Tsukiko had gone to Kyoto and come back with hair cut short and…

_“My name is Kagemiya Hoshi, I’m the daughter of Kagemiya Tsubasa and Lucas Ahola, sister of Kagemiya Daiki who goes by the name Midorikawa Shugo. The file I showed you weeks back… Michiko was a fake name my mother used.”_

Rei hadn’t been at Poirot when Tsukiko initially showed up with her new haircut and told Miyoshi Mai about something called protector’s jacket. But with the name and then coming face to face with her at the café… It was like looking at young Hiromitsu. Some differences naturally but the eyes… God, their eyes were identical. Kagemiya family and Kyoto Prefectural Police might’ve blocked investigation routes to her but he didn’t need them to know this was the same little girl that had come to their graduation with her grandmother.

 _“Zero-san.”_ She called him, as an acknowledgement of what she knew. And Rei didn’t know what was more troublesome… The fact that she was Hiromitsu’s cousin/niece or the fact that she was Kage, the leader of Hunters. But it certainly put him into a spot of indecision. To protect her in order to honor Hiromitsu or to inform PSB about her and her associates and put an end on these murders.

After all there wasn’t any other way to protect her if the way she’d thrown herself in front of a bullet meant for Conan was any indication.

Rei sighed. Tsukiko and Hiromitsu were so alike. Frighteningly and alarmingly alike. He’d remain on the background for now though and keep an eye on her. He’d be there for her if she needed him but all the same, Rei had his mission which he needed to prioritize. And maybe she’d be linked to it considering that she’d been in contact with Akai before Raiha Pass and the man’s apparent death.

Speaking of which, Rei probably should ask Takuya about Mai’s investigations…

* * *

 

Conan was… uneasy with Tsukiko. She had been a trusted ally for a long time but with the recent revelation of her activities… Conan frankly trusted Sera more and that was saying a lot about the situation.

The boy didn’t know nearly enough about Kagemiya family to make decent conclusions about Tsukiko’s upbringing but he was inclined to think that there was no way Kagemiya Tsubaki did not know about her grandchildren moonlighting as vigilantes. What the old woman thought about the matter, Conan did not know. There simply wasn’t enough information.

Tsukiko had always been strange with her easy acceptance of everything. From helping FBI, to knowing Conan was Shinichi, to figuring out Akai was alive. She had triggered Haibara’s BO sense but so did Akai. She just went along with Conan’s plans when needed and offered insight from an alternative point of view, sometime solving cases even before him. Even if it seemed now that she’d had her own goals all along.

Conan did not like being left out of the loop. And it wasn’t like he could do anything to stop them. Even if he called Megure with Kudou Shinichi’s voice, there was no evidence on his claims. He had no doubt that Tsukiko, Yamato, Shugo and Saya all had alternative places to hide anything incriminating.

And frankly… He could not afford losing the girl’s trust either. He shuddered to think what she could come up with in retaliation or what plans she concoct in secret that’d take him off guard. No, it was better to keep Tsukiko where he could see her. Even though he couldn’t ask Jodie about the girl as she’d moved out of the agent’s apartment.

It was… a difficult situation. And Tsukiko’s insistence of hanging around Bourbon didn’t help matters either though Conan was certain she would not sell Akai out.

If only he could be certain about everything else as well.

* * *

 

There was an acoustic guitar against the wall. And a synthetic piano in the room. There was a shelf filled with music sheets and books containing notes. The more Tsukiko looked around there, the more it seemed to her that Tsukasa had tried to copy the piano room at Kyoto house.

Instead of walking to the piano, Tsukiko lifted the guitar up and settled on the armchair in the corner. A notebook filled with chords was placed on the music stand in the room. Back in her own world, she’d learnt some chords on guitar in middle school and high school music lessons. Some she’d forgotten since but…

“Let’s start with something easy…”

While holding the guitar, Tsukiko had the impression of Hoshi holding it once too. Maybe during one of Tsukasa/Hiromitsu’s visits to Kyoto and the man teaching her.

“Well, the easiest is G major with only one finger.” The girl chuckled, playing to chord. And from there on she went through the major and minor chords that were written on the first pages of the book. Trying some simple songs that she remembered from those lessons.

Such a nice way of spending the evening, reminiscing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still remind you that Kagemiya-Midorikawa family tree can be found in the art-fic of this series.
> 
> Come and discuss at discord: https://discord.gg/WPTJGuV

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually now working on the next chapter of this. I hope to get it done as soon as possible.


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